


New Grounds

by MadeofValor



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asura never ressurected, Bits of fluff, Drama, Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 09:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8619613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadeofValor/pseuds/MadeofValor
Summary: A witch and a sorcerer, a recluse and a feral child. Both were content with their lives as they were, and that was all they wanted in life. But fate has a habit of throwing a wrench into any sort of plan.





	1. Beginings

**Author's Note:**

> First Soul Eater fic in a long while, I'm always open to knowing what others think and hearing friendly, helpful criticism. Let me know what you think.  
> This story updates on Mondays and Fridays.

In the small room, Siren Kahale lounged on the couch, her attention was only partially on the TV that droned on in front of her, relaying recent news events in its ever monotonous attitude. Most of her focus was on the one playing on the floor in front of her. A chorus of squeaks playing out in a never-ending composition as played, alternating between gnawing on and pawing at the dog toy she had gotten him not to long ago.

He was still dressed in his normal garbs. Brown shorts and a light gray button up shirt, black suspenders and a cravat that was slightly tattered at the end. His boots were discarded by the door, his gloves, with opened fingers and every hole ripped up, were tossed aside at the couch. Even his cape, which he liked to use as a blanket when the two were out and about and he got sleepy, was gone, draped over the arm of a chair, it's ends completely torn up and his black colored jack-o-lantern mask resting under it. The boy, still but a child, looked like he was half-way dressed for some Halloween party, though Halloween was long past. Most people, normal, _human_ , people wouldn't even believe her if she said that this outfit was his primary choice of clothing.

The boy, Jacko, was so happy as he went at his toys as though he were an excited puppy. Many of what he did Siren couldn't help but liken to a young animal. Though, considering his background, it was easy to forgive.

She envied him a little. He was so happy, his young age left him still untouched by the destructive sway their magic held over them. He only ever did anything destructive because it was what _Siren_ wanted. Hell, he wasn't even aware of the ticking time bomb that lurked and squirmed about inside his own body.

Just thinking about it, Siren closed her eyes, feeling her hands clench at her side. She could remove any foreign substance and item from her body thanks to her magic. But Jacko? He couldn't. He couldn't turn his physical state into water like she could, leaving anything not a part of herself to drown. The young sorcerer was skilled in fire magic, and even that was barely what one could call 'skilled'. He didn't even know something was wrong with him.

Maybe it wasn't so enviable, being unaware of how quickly and suddenly your life could be snuffed out, and never knowing why that happened.

Still, it left a bitter taste in her mouth thinking of that happening to her ward. She couldn't' help but blame herself. She hadn't been able to protect him. She let her guard down in a place she should had made sure to constantly be watching him in. God. She had a newfound hate of snakes. What made matters worse was that it'd only been a few days since then.

* * *

To say that Siren didn't get along well with others, even fellow witches, was like saying lava was hot, or that Don Juan Pond was salty. While you wouldn't be wrong in either statements, you would still be underestimating both situations by quite a lot. She wasn't exactly the social kind of person, and in truth, she _really_ didn't like other people. Didn't matter what they were, they annoyed her. Finding someone who was an exception to this truth was very rare.

She was content to spend her time alone in Hawaii, where she was the only witch for miles upon miles. Where she could unleash her magic, giving in to the pull of magic and its destructive tendencies through the tidal waves she created. Waves that not even Death himself would be able to link to her. The ocean was, after all, quite unpredictable and untamable. It was where she felt at home, where she felt at peace, and she would be damned if she let anyone rip her away from that.

Or, in the case of the witch masses she had to go for 'appearances sake', she could at least be as bitchy and grumpy as she could over having to have left her home. The only factor that made it any bit bearable was the child at her side the whole time.

Jacko, his outfit complete, had stayed at her side ever since they entered the witch realm. His black jack-o-lantern helmet was on, it's face closed and a faint orange glow emitted from the empty eyeholes and grinning carved mouth. Occasionally he would giggle at something he found funny, earning a few harsh glares that he seemed to not even notice, but for the most part he was content with silently entertaining himself.

It wasn't his first rodeo, Jacko knew how to behave while at the witches mass.

Not being a witch had certainly not given him any points with the others that attended. Didn't matter that he was a sorcerer, still one born of magic and bound to the destructive nature. And, by association, Siren didn't rank high in the popularity polls either for being the one who always brought Jacko. Not that Siren particularly cared, as mentioned earlier, she _really_ didn't like the others that attended.

It was easy to say that Jacko wasn't really well liked by other witches. While he was a sorcerer and born of magic, he was still _different_. He was the 'feral child' as they called him, and that was the kinder of the titles they'd given him.

They had already gone through all that had been needed to be said. A few witches were still somewhat disgruntled by Medusa's undercover work at the DWMA, not that Siren could blame them. The snake was putting them all in danger with her research and experimentation, not to mention she was sitting right in a den of students trained to murder their kind. A part of Siren hoped she slipped up, one less annoyance. Was that too mean? She didn't care, she didn't particularly like Medusa, and the woman's son… daughter…. _child_ always seemed off. Not someone she wanted her own ward playing with.

Whatever it was that Medusa was doing, by the sounds of things, her little game with the DWMA was drawing to a close, for better or for worse.

With the mass having drawn to a close after a grueling amount of time listening to witches complain, and the grand witch go on and on about things that Siren couldn't care less about, the masses were finally starting to disperse. Witches pulled up their hoods, put on their hats, or just reapplied whatever it was they removed for the meeting. Siren, of course, had none of which to do. Her only garment being the white bandages that were wrapped around her naked body, covering what was important and more.

Really, wearing clothes was a bit of a pain when she changed her form to water. With the bandages like this, at least she could manipulate them and be sure to still be covered when returned to a solid state. So, she could handle being dressed like a 'slutty mummy' for the sake of convenience.

A scowl still fixed on her face, Siren turned on a bare heel, making her way out to one of the many alleys that led out of the meeting area. "Come on, Jacko," she said just loud enough for the boy to hear as he scampered out following right behind her.

Already she could feel the comfort of knowing the other witches were getting farther and farther away from her. It was enough to bring a soft smile to her face, and she reached down to take Jacko's hand in her own. So he wouldn't wander off she'd tell herself.

Though her peace and comfort was only short lived.

"I'm surprised you showed up today," a low voice had her stop in her tracks, instinctively stepping in front of Jacko as though to shield him. From the shadows stepped Medusa, her elder and someone who was already high on her shit list. Siren could only scowl as the witch went on, "you rarely show, it's like someone has to twist your arm to bring you over. But, it is a nice treat when you do appear."

"Cut to the chase, what do you want?" Siren snapped.

Medusa walked towards her, stance and pace screaming that she owned the world, that she owned Siren. From behind her, the younger of the two could make out a figure standing awkwardly, Crona, perhaps. Blue eyes flicked back to Medusa, narrowed in disdain as she waited for an answer to her question. Maybe it'd be a good enough reason to validate a good punch to the blondes' face.

"I want to have us work together," Medusa said plainly. As Siren's face scrunched up in confusion at the very notion, she went on, "You're a very powerful person, Siren, quite deserving of the title 'Water Witch'. Capable of manipulating entire oceans even, it'd be a waste to not try and bring you in as an ally."

She could feel bile in the back of her throat, and she felt sick just talking to Medusa for this long. But she just kept he gaze level, letting her annoyance show at full force, "So? I can get why you'd want me as an ally, but why would _I_ want to work with you?" she questioned.

As far as the younger witch cared, there was no reason for her to align herself with someone as awful as Medusa. Even _Siren_ had standards, after all.

"Does seeing the DWMA, seeing Death, fall and be destroyed interest you at all?" she asked, and when Siren remained unfazed, continued on, "I didn't think so. You may be a witch, but, you really are apathetic to anything that doesn't directly affect you. You don't care at all about whether the DWMA remains strong or falls to ruin."

Siren frowned, "If that's the best you can offer, then you really need to work on your sales pitch. Whatever happens to the DWMA, and you're plans with them, ainokea," she deadpanned. If that was how Medusa went about recruiting others, then how did she manage to drag the Mizune sisters and Eruka into her schemes? That was a mystery Siren had no desire to waste energy on solving.

For some reason, Medusa just smiled at that. A creepy, malicious grin that sent alarm bells in Siren's head ringing.

"I just wanted to give you the option to go along willingly," Medusa explained calmly, "you see, no isn't an option, I'll have to go the other route. A pity, really, I have no interest in him after all."

Her eyes were gazing on something behind Siren, and alarm bells turned into warning sirens in her head. It was at that moment she realized she couldn't feel Jacko right behind her anymore, the familiar warmth from the heat that radiated off of him was gone. She whirled around on her heels, heart rate starting to race in her chest as she stared at where the boy had moved to.

Farther down the alleyway he was crouched down next to Eruka, guzzling some liquid happily. She felt some minor relief that he was still there with her, but her nerves were still on end. Telling her that something was wrong with the image. Did Medusa spike the drink with some kind of poison? Laced it with a drug?

"How many of my snakes do you think were in there?" Medusa asked.

Blood running cold, Siren wasted no time dashing across the alley to where Jacko sat, roughly shoving Eruka aside and knocking the thermos from the boy's hands. As some of the clear liquid poured out, she could see one of the magic snakes squirming about in the puddle of liquid. Disgusting.

Putting a hand on his stomach and the other on his cheek, he had already pushed his helmet up so he could drink the elixir given to him. Her eyes narrowed, "Jacko, open up," she commanded. He gave her a confused look, but opened his mouth wide as he could. Focusing hard, Siren used the fluids in his body to try and locate the snakes as best as she could. Her hand shook as she began counting. Could he feel them writhing and squirming inside of him? She had to remove them, now.

"I know what you're thinking, and I wouldn't do that if I were you," Medusa's icily cool voice broke through her thoughts as she stepped over to the two. "One command and I can have them burst out, rather violently if I may add, and you don't want that, do you?"

Siren felt bile begin to rise at the idea of that happening to the boy.

"What do you want?" she growled out, turning slowly to face Medusa, being sure the hate in her eyes would show. The disgust she felt to the older woman was open for all to see.

Medusa was unfazed by the hostility, and smiled instead, "I want your cooperation, simple as that, and now you have an incentive for being obedient."

She had an incentive alright. It was a dirty, horrible trick that Medusa used. But, Siren had to give her credit in terms of effectiveness. Even if she didn't want to, the facts remained that with this set up, there wasn't any way she could say no to Medusa. Not when Jacko's life was on the line, not when it meant that if she acted up, he'd be killed in a horrible, painful manner.

She ground her teeth, the rage she felt was a barely contained tsunami, crashing around inside her, "Fine. I'll cooperate so long as you don't hurt him."

"You have my word."

With that, the snake witch turned around and sauntered off, Eruka chasing after her, leaving both Jacko and Siren alone in the alley. Her anger was coursing through her, threatening to break through and drown this entire realm and all its inhabitants. Her entire body was shaking, trembling with her fury she desperately held back for her wards sake. Oh, how she wished she could kill Medusa right there, and save them all the repercussions of the future.

* * *

Something warm bumped against her leg, and Siren let out a breath, opening her eyes. Broken free from her thoughts and memories of the incident, she looked down. Crouched at her feet was Jacko, staring up at her with bright green eyes atop his skin, tanned by many hours out in the tropical sunlight. His hair, a blonde so pale it could pass for white, was as much a mess as ever. He must have noticed something was wrong.

He bumped his head against her leg again, a soft whine pleading for her attention, the water witch couldn't help but offer a small smile, bringing a hand to his head to give it a gentle rub, fingers becoming entangled in his soft hair.

"Hey, buddy, you getting hungry?" she asked him.

Smiling wide, sharp white canines showing, Jacko nodded, "Chic-chic!" he chirped, his own rendition of the word 'chicken', his favorite food. With the way he was looking at her so pleadingly, there was no way that Siren could deny him.

Standing up from the couch, Jacko followed suit, pushing himself up from the floor to stand on his own to legs. The woman barely got two steps before he latched onto her arm, grasping her hand in his own much warmer one, bringing the other to his mouth so he could gnaw on the thumb nail.

Jacko was… the only innocent and good thing is Sirens life, and she'd do anything to keep him safe, to keep that bomb forced inside of him from going off. Even if it meant she'd have to play the role of a puppet, she'd willingly do a song and dance to keep her ward safe and happy.


	2. Solo Player

After that incident with Medusa placing her in such a frustrating position of worrying and constantly treading on thin ice for the sake of Jacko, Siren found herself being sent on missions and jobs at a rather frequent schedule. The days, weeks and eventual months that followed had her leaving her island home again and again, forcing her to step away from her safe haven, and leaving Jacko for prolonged periods of time, far longer than she would have liked. And to do what? Flood a town here, set off tsunamis onto beaches and islands there, steal and siphon away a few water reservoirs that towns relied on to survive, leaving them in an impromptu drought.

Medusa proved to be highly keen on taking full advantage of the hydrokinetic powers Siren possessed to further her own plans. How these actions even helped move her closer to her endgame, whatever the Hell that was, Siren didn't know, and she didn't care.

She hated it, hated how her skyrocketed rate of activity was putting her on the DWMA's radar. Before she could go out now and again, let out her frustration and all the nasty feelings the pull of magic gave her, and with how sparse it happened, Death would chalk it up to the natural wrath of the ocean, not a witch who could control it.

Hated how she was forced to leave Jacko all alone at home for days at a time, something she tried to refuse at first—he was far too young to be able to watch over himself! — but Medusa would see no reason in that regard. Siren was forced to rely on others to watch over the boy during these jobs. Eruka was by far the best babysitter out of the bunch during the times she was begrudgingly forced to rely on her to watch over Jacko. She obeyed the rules and didn't try any funny business. Free, well, after the first time Siren decided never again. Not only had Jacko been fed unhealthy slop that left him with sick later that night, but he was allowed up hours past his bedtime and nearly set the entire house on fire through too wild of roughhousing.

She hated Medusa most of all, the egotistical, conniving, manipulative witch. A monster of a being.

So, months later when she heard the news, albeit a few weeks old when it reached her, of Medusa's work at the DWMA having come to an end, how her attack on the school failed, how _she had_ _failed_ and was, most importantly, _dead_ … Siren was the happiest she had felt in a long, long while.

Medusa was dead. Medusa was dead. Medusa was _dead_.

The snakes in Jacko would be gone if the witch that planted them was gone, his safety was assured. The two could resume life as it had been before. No more impromptu missions keeping her away for days on end. No more putting herself and him at risk. She could stay home with Jacko; she could return to her comfortable life as it had been before. But, most importantly…

Jacko was _safe_.

And to the Sea Witch, that alone was the most important thing to come out of the death of Medusa.

With Medusa was dead, the snake lurking inside of him was gone, he was safe, and though Jacko didn't understand what that meant at all, even he could comprehend that it was important.

New laws were passed by Grand Witch after the fallout of what Medusa had been planning, (reviving the Kishin, Asura, an insane idea and a threat to the safety of everyone, though rumor had it she didn't succeed), that no witch was to go near Death City and the DWMA. Too risky for themselves and the community at whole.

Siren understood the reasoning behind that, and she respected that judgement, even if she wished it had been made before Medusa ever got it in her head to infiltrate the school in the first place. She was content to stay back in Hawaii, away from everyone and away from the DWMA. With Medusa gone, she could go back to her isolated lurking, bide her time until she falls off of Deaths radar. Then she could be sure she was safe, she can ensure both she and Jacko were safe.

For Jacko, he didn't understand the reasoning behind it when Siren celebrated the occasion or what had happened. He didn't understand that Medusa was dead and what it meant. He barely understood the concept of life and death. All he understood was that whatever it was, Siren was happy about it, beyond happy about it, and that meant for him that _he_ was happy about it.

He understood that she was happy enough to the point that not only was she making them a feast for two to celebrate, but that she was making sweets and pastries. That Siren would make him a cake, a _cake_ to celebrate. That itself was its own landmark; Siren _hated_ sweets and sugary foods. She refused to make anything that was unhealthy, refused to let Jacko eat anything unhealthy. But here she was, going to make him a cake and cookies to celebrate. He was going to get to eat cake for the first time!

Sitting on the floor, he stared up at Siren with a sloppy, goofy grin, watching as she slipped a white blouse over her bandaged torso. Whenever she put on regular clothing it meant she was going out, going out on the town for whatever reason. He liked going with her on these trips.

"Sorry, Jacko," Siren said, casting him an apologetic smile, reaching down to rub at his head, earning a purr like noise to come from deep in his chest, it was enough to bring a warm, bubbling feeling to sprout up in her chest, "you're going to have to stay here. Need someone big and strong to guard the house while I'm gone." Plus, she planned on getting him a few surprises, and it wouldn't do to have him there with her when she bought them.

His smile frowned and he ducked his head, a low whine replacing his purr, "Awww," he drew out the complaint, but it lasted only a second when the 'big and strong' part registered. He pushed himself to stand on his legs, smiling wide and showing off a pair of sharp canine as he did as best as he could in an attempt to make himself look bigger than he was, "Aigh! Jacko… Jacko strong!" though he struggled to speak, he was happy nonetheless in his boast.

"I know you are," Siren agreed, smiling gently as she crouched in front of him, giving him a light tap on his nose. "I'll be gone for a two hours at most. You know the rules; stay inside, don't let anyone in, don't talk to strangers, and don't set anything on fire. Think you can handle that responsibility?" she asked him.

The boy grinned wide and nodded his head, giving a small dog like yip in response.

"Good boy," she smiled, the warm feeling was spreading past her chest cavity to other parts of her body, and she didn't mind. It was a nice feeling. Standing back up, she fetched her wallet and slipped it into the pocket of her pants, followed by one more pat to the head to the child at her side. "Try not to get into any trouble now, I'll be back before you know it, malama pono." she gave her temporary farewell as she slipped out the front door.

The door clicked gently when she shut it, and Jacko sat up on the couch, listening as she walked down the sandy path away from the house. When he was certain she was gone, his smile fell as he looked around the now empty house. It wasn't big by any means, but, whenever Siren was gone it felt so much larger, more empty. Jacko hated being left alone. He didn't like being alone. It had only been a few minutes and already he wanted Siren back home, back here with him so he wouldn't be left alone!

No, no! Siren said he was big and strong, so he had to be big and strong! Big, strong people didn't get lonely. So, he couldn't let her down.

Dropping back to all fours, the child began padding around the house in search of something to do while he waited for Siren to return. He couldn't' go outside, Siren didn't like him out there unsupervised. Maybe something from the box he and Siren watched things from? No, that didn't sound fun right now either. Oh, maybe he could grab some of his toys! Yeah, he could play with them while he waited!

Dashing down the halls he slid to a stop in his own den, grinning as he pushed open the treasure box that kept all the toys Siren had gotten him. He was careful as he picked the ones he wanted. A few stuffed animals, a couple of plastic men and women (action figures he thinks she called them) and some wooden blocks. There were a few plastic rings too that he liked to bite into, and rope toys too, but he needed Siren for those; they weren't fun if someone wasn't there to try and wretch it from his firm bite.

Carrying them in his tattered cape as though it were a basket, he hobbled back into the main den with the viewing box. Dropping the toys onto the floor, he grinned himself dropped down to lay on his stomach as he began stacking the blocks into a sloppy tower. He made his own sound affects as he brought General Bunny, a blue stuffed bunny with patches and stitches to repair his battle wounds, over to the tower, slamming it into the blocks and causing the blocks and tower to topple over. He gave himself a small giggle after making an 'explosion' sound.

Half tempted he was to add fire to the towers destruction. No… he shouldn't. Siren asked him not to set anything on fire.

Oh well, he didn't need his magic to have fun. He brought over one of the plastic dolls, one covered in some kind of armor, over to the pile of wooden blocks. Shortly after he began making sounds as General Bunny and Plastic Man began fighting to the death.

It didn't take long for General Bunny to dominate over Plastic Man, pinning the toy soldier to the ground with one fluffy foot. Jacko gave a few cries in his own cheer, "Aroo! Ar! Ar! Arooo!"

However, playing by himself got boring after a while, his interest faded after yet another victory by General Bunny. Deciding to play at another game, he donned his pumpkin styled helm and stood up on his legs. In his mind, he could perfectly imagine Siren beside him, arm outstretched and a wave crashing down on their enemies. He didn't know _who_ the enemies were, they were just enemies, the people that Siren didn't like.

Smiling behind the carved grin on his helm, Jacko lunged forward. Tackling the sofa with all his might as he pretended to have rammed right into another enemy, his head slamming into their unguarded stomach and making them topple over.

He giggled, jumping off the couch, knocking a few cushions down with him as he took a step back. In his minds eye, he saw a row of enemies rushing at him, spears and swords drawn, ready to impale his own small body. Taking a step back, the lower jaw of his helm dropped open, as though the jack-o-lantern helmet was opening its own mouth. Simultaneously, Jacko took in a deep breath, feeling a burning sensation build up in his throat as he collected his fires, ready to breath it all out and burn his foes down.

No, he couldn't do that. Right, of course, the evil queen had put a spell on him preventing Jacko from accessing his fire magic. The warmth in his throat died down as the fires dissipated inside of him. Instead, he quickly turned and dashed away, sliding into the kitchen- no! into the cave! Taking refuge behind a long rock that jutted out in the middle of it. His enemies ran right past him, oblivious to the sorcerer hiding, and he quickly made his exit when the soldiers were out of sight deep in the bowels of the cavern.

He couldn't see Siren anywhere, but that was okay! There was a lake on the other side of the battle field where she was at, and she would have no problems seizing victory on her end with water on her side!

He grinned as he found himself back in the central part of his battlefield, taking a few haste steps backwards to avoid the oncoming spear and then lunging forward, driving his hands into their chest, claws outstretched and leaving a nasty gash through armor and flesh. His smile never ended as he let out a few happy yips as he danced around the battlefield, avoiding blade and spear and making sure to leave his own mark on the enemies. His fighting was anything but graceful and consisted mostly of him ramming his helmet-protected head into anyone he got close to and digging his elongated nails, claws, into whatever he could. Sloppy but he was having fun with it.

The sun had already descended far past the horizon when the war was over and Jacko was on his back, panting for breath, completely worn from his make-believe battle. The living room was a mess now; cushions were strewn all over, pillows tossed about. New gashes were on the coffee table and walls thanks to him, but overall, Jacko was happy. He won the war, defeated the evil king and reclaimed his magic! It was a fun game… maybe one day he can go out and fight alongside Siren for real and defeat an evil overlord with her in real life. That'd be so much fun.

His smile turned into a frown as he pushed himself to sit up. Turning to the window, his brows knitted together; it was already so dark out… where was Siren? She should had been back by now; she should had been back ages ago. Should he... should he go look for her? She was never gone this late without some kind of notice.

The child crept towards the door, reaching towards the handle before stopping short. No, Siren explicitly said not to leave the house.

But, what if she got lost? He should go look for her then, right? No, Siren wouldn't get lost, there's no way that's possible. What if she did, though? What if Siren had gotten hurt somewhere along the trail and needed his help? What if she got stolen away?

A small whimper escaped him, worry eating away at him from inside. Siren never lied about how long she'd take before. Why would she be taken so much longer now?

He padded over to the window and pushed it open, leaning his top half out into the cool night air, he looked out at the sea. Trying with all his might to try and find some sign of his guardian, but to no avail it was just the calm sea with nothing but water as far as the eye could see. Jacko couldn't help but bite his lip in worry, where was Siren?

" _Oooooowhooooo!_ " he howled to the night sky, maybe if Siren heard him, she'd be back home sooner? " _Ooooooooowhoooo! Ooooowhoooo!"_ he tried again. The boy stayed there, howling out to the world until his throat was raw and he was coughing.

Playing a game didn't seem like fun at all now that Siren was late.

He looked over to the clock that hung on the wall. Though he couldn't understand what time the clock said it was, he could recognize from the hand positions that it was past when Siren usually sent him to bed. Had he been playing for that long? Jacko didn't want to leave the window in case Siren came in view, but, he knew she'd be upset if he stayed up past his bedtime. He wanted to stay up, waiting for her, but, the fear of upsetting her when she returned by not following one of the basic house rules won out in the end.

Slowly shutting the window shut, Jacko padded out of the main den, leaving his toys on the floor. Instead of going to his own den, Jacko went further down the hall until he reached Sirens door. Nudging it open, he was instantly greeted with the overwhelming scent of her that flowed from the room. It offered him the comfort of her presence even when she was not physically around.

His helmet dissipated in a wisp of dark smoke as he climbed onto her nest; it was much higher up than his own and quite larger, fitting for her bigger size. Though it felt the same, it was more reassuring as he felt himself being wrapped up by her smell, and he could easily picture himself curled up next to his guardian. It gave him a sense of safety as he nuzzled down on the pillow, burrowed deep under the blankets as he curled into a tight ball. It didn't take long for Jacko, already worn out from his day of play, to fall asleep.

* * *

He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep. It was still dark out when a sharp and sudden pain in his abdomen forced him away from his precious dreams. It was so painful that he couldn't help but give a soft whine as his arms coiled around his middle. Did he… did he eat something that didn't mix well with him?

Another sharp pain and he winced. Struggling to get out from the blankets, Jacko tumbled onto the floor, letting out another whine as more pain filled his senses. It took him a minute to get to his feet, but as soon as he stood up, another round of pain coursed through his stomach that had him toppling over onto the ground yet again.

"Aaah…" he felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes as he hissed through gritted teeth. It hurt, it hurt so much.

Just as he managed to get himself onto his knees, he gagged, and before he could even stop himself or attempt to reach a trash bin, he began vomit up onto the floor. It burned the entire way up as globs of red were coughed up from him, forming a mess onto the floor. He continued retching up blood and God only knew what else, his body trembling, his own arms barely able to keep him a few inches up.

Toppling over onto his side right next to his spew, his breathing became labored as bits of blood began to dribble down from his mouth. Leftovers from what he just heaved up, or a new batch all together? He didn't know. Curling up tight, Jacko wrapped his arms around his stomach, he could feel pressure on his ribs from inside, something pressing hard against his insides and something moving about under his skin.

It hurt.

He let out a loud cry of pain, his body beginning to convulse. He couldn't stop the whimpers and cries even if he wanted to. What was happening to him, what was going on? Please… someone, anyone, make the pain go away!

Despite his senses growing number due to the pain, he still caught onto the sound of footsteps approaching. Help? Please, oh please be help, please let it be her!

Jacko tried to push himself up, tried to crawl to the door, to wherever the footsteps were coming from, but the slightest movement sent him into a whole new world of agony and he let out a sharp cry as his body began to writhe.

The door was pushed open, the footsteps so much clearer and closer now. They were in the same room as him, a shadow fell over his small frame as he laid on the floor in pure pain and agony.

He opened his eyes slowly, his eyesight had become so blurred through the tears and pain that he could only see a human-like blob looking over him. Slowly it crouched down to be closer to his level as Jacko let out another cry of pain.

"S-Si….reh…nnh!" he whimpered in broken syllables, a gasp of pain punctuating each pause. Siren, please, make the pain go away. Please!

Darkness was creeping into the edges of his vision, his head was so dizzy. He began coughing violently, globs of blood being sprayed out. It hurt so much. The pressure inside him was growing more severe, his insides were at their breaking limit, bones ready to snap and organs ready to be smooshed and his skin to be ripped through by… by… by whatever it was that was bringing him so much pain! Jacko grit his teeth as he let out a hiss of air, someone was talking, but he couldn't understand the words. A hand was brushing hair from his clammy brown, another pushed his own hands from his stomach and pressed down, hard. He cried out in pain.

The world went completely black for him.


	3. Witches

As Siren made her way down the road, she tugged at the shirt she was wearing in slight frustration. Glared down at the sandals on her feet and the pants that encased her legs. She felt so… confined in all these clothing. Silly a concept as that was. But it was true for her, she felt like it was too tight no matter how loose it may have been.

She frowned as she continued walking. Would Jacko be okay on his own? Probably, but she still couldn't help but worry about him. The farther she got from their home, the more she had to remind herself that Jacko had spent plenty of time alone in there when she went to the markets. Sometimes she brought him with her too, the elderly shopkeepers at the stands just adored the playful boy, and seeing so many people just enjoy his company, accept him and like him, it made her like this island state just a little more.

The people here treated him better than then some of her fellow witches. Funny how that worked out. He could come out to the towns fully dressed in cape and helm like he's ready for Halloween, and they'd chuckle and smile and compliment him. They'd go along with his antics, some would join his games.

The dirt path turned into cemented sidewalk, and she forced a smile on her face. Well, it wasn't exactly a 'forced' smile, with Jacko on her mind, it was pretty easy for her to smile and find her mood being light and happy even. The town she entered was a buzz, people moving about, talking, laughing, celebrating that fact that they were alive and well, celebrating their youth, their age. It just felt… alive in the town, and maybe it was Siren's own exuberance that was to blame, but it felt more so than usual today.

"Hello, Kahale," greeted an elderly woman with skin a darker shade of brown than Sirens own. She had a gentle, motherly smile on her wrinkled face as she sorted through some fruit that were laid out on a stand, "It's nice to see you've come to visit the town, it's been so long some of us were starting to worry that something had happened to you."

She gave the woman a smile as she picked up a tomato, rolling it in her hand to see if it was good enough, "We're doing okay, it's just been a bit busy for both of us," she said, as she bagged a few tomatoes up, maybe she could make some homemade tomato sauce. Jacko liked her pasta. She grabbed a few more vegetables and handed it off to the man selling them and fished out her wallet, "How has the family been?"

The old woman laughed a little, "As wild as ever. Michael's signed up for the upcoming surfing event, he's been quite happy over that. Everyone's been happy."

Siren nodded offering the grocer a 'mahalo' as she took her change and vegetables, "Well, I'm glad. I'm sure your grandson will do spectacular at the contest, he's a natural on a board."

She had met Michael a number times. Just reached Twenty last April, he was a good guy; the type that always volunteered to help wherever he went, didn't matter the work. He took great pride in helping others. Yet his passion laid in the ocean, surfing, and swimming, and he was quite good at both, the Big Kahuna when it came to the surfing community here. He had even taken Jacko out on his board with him one time, and when he got to the beach again, Jacko wouldn't stop smiling. Surfing with Michael had been the highlight of his day.

Of course, Michael had his flaws too, one of them was that he was infatuated with Siren, something that annoyed her to no ends. If he saw her, he tried to impress her, tried to make her swoon. He was a nice boy, but Siren wasn't interested, she wasn't interested in anyone or even the idea of being interested in someone. He didn't try to force himself on her, she appreciated that, and he knew not to come on too strong, but her unending 'no's' didn't mean he was going to stop trying.

It would have been sweet, if it wasn't completely annoying.

"That he is," the woman nodded and gathered her own things, "well, I shouldn't keep you any more than I have, it wouldn't be fair to the boy if I talked to you until the sun went down. A hui kaua, tell your boy that I said 'hello'."

Siren waved the woman off and began moving through the street market, she exchanged some short and light conversations with other shoppers who recognized her. Then again who wouldn't recognize the blue haired woman who only came into town on occasion? She made sure that her conversations weren't too long; she had shopping to do and wanted to be back before too long. Not that she didn't trust Jacko all alone, but she just worried for him, and worried that he'd be lonely by himself.

Some fresh fish was up, recently caught. Siren bought a few; they were among Jacko's favorite foods next to chicken. She got plenty of fruit too from a few stands; pineapples, grapes, apples, oranges, all a good source of vitamins. Some coconuts too, their milk had a variety of benefits health wise that she wanted for him. Eventually, though, she had to pry herself from the healthier foods as she begrudgingly began gathering the ingredients for the cake she promised Jacko.

Her face scrunched up in disgust as she picked up a case of cocoa powder. Did she have eggs at home? After a moment of thought, she confirmed to herself that she did.

Oh, how she hated this, but a promise was a promise and Jacko at least deserved to try a cake once in his life, even if the taste made Siren's own stomach churn. There was too much sugar in things like this, too many ingredients waiting to make the consumer sick, there were no nutritional benefits to it. The only reason people like cakes and cookies was the taste. She'd be damned if she let anyone under her care become a glutton for such fattening, sugary foods.

Maybe it was unfair of her, it probably was, not to mention slightly ridiculous the hatred Siren had against these things people claimed to be 'food'. But, she didn't care. Besides, it wasn't like she didn't make exceptions now and then, like today. She was baking a chocolate cake for Jacko even if she hated it.

As she was moving across the market in search of other things she could use for the cake or for their kitchen, one stand caught her eye. Pausing, Siren examined the necklaces hanging on display. Despite the small size, the detail put into them was amazing, and they were beautiful. One in particular caught her eye and she picked it up to give the necklace closer examination. It was brown and in the shape of a sea turtle. Yet there were two separate chains around it, both connected to the yin-yang on the turtles back.

"Are you interested in that one?" the older man selling them asked as he took notice of her, "It's a beauty, that's certain. You remove the yin and yang on its shell and give one of the halves to someone you love. You can put them back in the shell, a symbolic way of showing your love and connection, as you belong together."

"I kind of figured it was one of those necklaces, not many other reasons why you could take it apart in three pieces," she pointed out, but still didn't put it away. Give the other piece to someone she cared about, someone she loved and felt connected to? Jacko came to mind and a small smile found its way to her face. He would like this, right? "How much for it, sir?"

After getting the price and exchanging money, she carefully tucked the necklace into her own pocket. The turtle on it reminded her of Kauila, a story she told Jacko over and over again at his insistence during the early days of his stay with her. It brought back memories of the boy, even smaller than he currently was, unable to speak a lick of English or Hawaiian, yet hanging onto her every word each night as she recited the legend behind the sea turtle, and sometimes she just made up stories of Kauila to keep him entertained.

They were fond memories that she would always cherish.

She wanted to give Jacko part of the necklace set, it could be a promise to him that no matter what the two of them would always be together. That they would always have each other and could always find peace and solace in the other's presence no matter what fate threw at them. She wanted to give the boy something to assure him that she would always come back to him.

As she was walking away from the stand, she heard her name being called out and found herself stepping over to a small group of adults chatting in the shade of a tree.

"Kahale, it's great to see you up and about," an older man well into his forties greeted gave her a hearty pat on the back, "you've been up to the trail for so long, we were starting to wonder if you'd ever come back to us town-folk. How's your keikikane doing?"

Siren forced a smile, keeping herself from correcting the man that Jacko was not her son, instead just gave a small nod, "Jacko has been well. He's been working hard with his studies."

An older woman just tutted at her, "Honestly, it's a shame that you're keeping the poor boy stuffed up in a house all the time. It'd be so much better for him if you'd enroll him in a public school, let him make friends his own age. He'd be so much farther along in his education that way," she shook her head, "I don't mean to sound rude or anything, it's just, homeschooling isn't quite up to par with trained teachers."

Yeah, like Siren was going to send Jacko off to a hoard of children who'd taunt and tease him for what he couldn't do. Didn't matter if he'd get a better education with a school, he wouldn't be able to handle it, and wouldn't like it at all. At least with Siren, he enjoyed what he learned and he had fun. Besides, it wasn't as though Jacko was dumb, he could be clever, he was resourceful, he learned things that could keep him alive, the sort of things books and classrooms didn't teach. She kept smiling, though, not about to give the woman the satisfaction of letting her know the comment got under her skin.

"Jacko has been just fine how he is," she said evenly, "maybe in the future, if he wants to enroll in a public school, he can. But as of right now he just wants to stay home and learn from me, so that's what he gets."

"Wants to stay home with you?" a man cackled, "enjoy that while you can, Kahale, once he gets older he won't be able to wait until the day he can move out and get as far from you as he can."

Her hand clenched, her grip on the bags of groceries tightening, "I'm sure that's not true," she said slowly.

The woman just gave her a patient smile, "It is, all kids get so excited to live on their own and be independent, it's just a matter of time until he flies the coop. He'll leave for college, get himself his own job and start up a family of his own," she explained, "I reckon he'd start wanting more and more freedom in a few years."

"Cherish what time you've got left with the boy, you'll be having an empty nest before you know it!"

Siren just gave them all a smile, "I see," she said. She didn't want to talk to them anymore, she wanted to go before their innocent, naive words made her do something she'd regret, "Well, I should be going now. It was nice to talk to you three."

With that, she turned on her heels and began her walk out of the market and out of the town. Her heart was racing as she went over what they had said. Jacko leaving. Of course, it wasn't as though the idea of him growing up and moving out never crossed her mind, she just did her damned best to keep from letting it cross her mind. She didn't like thinking about it for a good number of reasons. She hated the idea of Jacko leaving.

Sure, she couldn't expect him to spend all his time with her when he himself was an adult, and to confine himself to their small home. He was going to grow up and leave eventually. He would leave, and she would be all alone again.

Maybe the necklace was more for her own assurance that they'd always be together than it was for him. Maybe it was Siren who needed to be reminded that they would always be together no matter what happened and no matter how much time they spent apart.

Darker thoughts crept up to her, climbing up from the recess of her mind where she tried to keep all her awful feelings locked away. No, no. Control yourself, Siren. She couldn't go home in a sour mood, and what she was going at was well beyond 'sour', she had to stay calm. He wasn't gone yet. She still had plenty of years left until the idea of leaving would ever cross his mind. Plenty of years before he would abandon her.

The ocean inside her own soul was turning wild as her nerves began to go frantic.

Taking a deep breath, breathing in the sea-scented air, Siren felt her nerves calm, forcing her less likable thoughts down again. She was still on edge, though, the lonely thoughts, driven by fear and years of mistrust still gnawing at the edges of her mind. Her hands were shaking.

Her soul could feel the ocean calling out to her, asking her to come into its embrace, submerge herself in it, to just bask in her own element. Its deep seas were her home long before she had a house, the currents her friends and family long before Jacko. Her sole confidant, the only thing that she will never lose, the only one that will never leave. The only one she doesn't fear leaving.

Maybe… Jacko could wait just a _little_ longer, right?

Stepping off the usual path, Siren began making her way towards the beach. Eventually, the dirt and grass gave way to fine sand and gentle tides overlapping the earth, the seagulls above and the hum of the waves was all she could hear. Kicking off her shoes and socks, Siren gently placed her bought items onto the ground. She could feel the warm sand slipping between her toes as she walked. Stripping off her shirt and then her pants along the way until she was clad in only the bandages she kept wrapped around her body. Free from any sort of confines. As free as the ocean itself.

The water wrapped around her, like a hug from an old friend, an embrace of a lover. She drifted out from shore, falling deeper and deeper under.

Down here she needs no air. Why would she? Would water ever dare lift a finger against her? Would it ever try to harm her, drown her? No, the ocean, the waters, they were one of the two things that had never caused her harm or pain in her life. Even if she had no magic, she would give to the ocean her complete trust without hesitance and not fear it would drag her down to the ocean floor with its currents, or drown her with its absence of air.

She could feel her fears ebbing away, her very soul falling into a peaceful state. A few bubbles formed as she curled up in the water like a baby in its mother's womb. She was sinking deeper into the water, the surface but a distance image. Her soul felt strong, powerful.

Siren was home. She was safe.

She wasn't quite sure how much time had passed when she finally resurfaced, breaking through the waters lid into the fresh air above. It must have been quite a while as the sun had already begun its descent over the horizon and darkness creeping into the sky. She felt her blood rush to her cheeks at the realization and shame course through her body. _Shit_ , she was gone longer than she had promised Jacko.

Diving into the water, powerful arms brought her back to the shore. Reluctance tore at her body as she crawled out of the ocean. Oh, boy, Jacko was going to be _mad_ when she got home.

"It's about time you finally came back up."

All the blood in Siren's body came to a sudden stop. Eyes wide in horror and mouth hanging open in numb shock. That voice, that _voice_! Her body was trembling, shaking, her heart racing, her mind screaming at her.

Siren was too afraid to look up, that if she looked, the dreadful confirmation would come, "A'ole…. _A'ole_!" she whispered, her voice quivering.

She could hear soft footsteps against the sand, coming closer to her yet she still refused to look. This was a dream, she was still underwater, this wasn't true. _This wasn't real_. She screamed to herself, her mind chanting, pleading, begging for this to not be real. A hallucination from stress, just someone who sounded like her, a dream!

Small feet were in her vision now, and taking a deep breath, she raised her head to face the witch before her. She took another breath to calm her nerves, forcing her expression from fear to annoyance, so to not show this woman any weakness. She shouldn't be afraid at all, no, she had the ocean at her back. This was _her_ home turf, if it came down to a fight, Siren would tear her apart.

"You're smaller," she deadpanned, a scowl forming. Had Medusa taken over a Keiki after her so called 'death'?

"And you're just as sour as always," Medusa responded with a coy smile, "now, I won't bother you with the details, only that we still have work to do. Don't think that just because the issue with DWMA has failed that our partnership is over."

It was too good to hope, too good to dream. Of course, it wasn't over. Jacko was still in danger, Jacko was still at risk. _Jacko wasn't safe._

She gritted her teeth, "Of course," Siren hissed, glaring down at Medusa, and another where the dumb wolf and scared frog lingered farther away.

At least she got the satisfaction of knowing the woman was now smaller than her, and now by far weaker than her here at the ocean. There was a strong temptation to bring out the waters, drag Medusa under, drown her. But… no, she couldn't. That body wasn't Medusas, it was just a kid who got dragged into this mess, Siren couldn't drown a kid. Not only that, she couldn't put Jacko at risk like that. She could set her snakes off, kill him before the ocean took her own life.

Sorry, Jacko, but it looked like with the Queen Snake back in action, she was going to be sent on another job she had no interest in doing. Just wait a little longer until she could come back home, they'd have to have their feast and cake another time. Not that there was anything to celebrate anymore. Jacko didn't need to know that, though… if he asked she'd lie and make up some new bullshit for what they were celebrating.

Taking a step back, feeling the waves lapping over her feet and ankles, she crossed her arms over her chest, "Okay, what do you need me to do now?" she asked her. Might as well cut to the chase and get whatever menial task it was this time done with, so she could go home and be done with it all. Be back with Jacko, make sure he was okay, make sure he was still safe.

With Medusa around, now the fear of being apart from Jacko for so long was making fear and worry gnaw at her.

She needed to get home, soon.

"There is a ship out at sea, I think you'll recognize it by the skull insignia painted on the hull," Medusa began slowly, a wicked smile forming, and upon that young, child-like face, it made it seem creepier than it had before when she had been an adult, "I want you to sink it, bring the ship and its inhabitants to the bottom of the ocean. It should be easy enough for you, correct?"

Siren made a face, "You're talking about something that's in water, and asking if it would be easy?" Water was her element, her very being, anything in or near water meant victory was all but assured for Siren. "Should I even bother asking _why_ you want me to go ship sinking for you, or if I do are you just going to blow off some kind of answer?"

"Let's just say there are some people on the ship that had been bothersome to me," Medusa waved her answer off, as expected not giving a full answer.

Siren gave a long sigh, turning back to the water, "Fine, one sunken ship coming right up, oh High and Mighty Queen of Bitch," she grumbled as she stepped back into the water. It took a bit of self-control to not flip Medusa and her posse the bird. Instead, she focused on her own body. Feeling it change, the fluids inside her expanding, her form changing until she was completely water, bandages now soaked and moving around her like extra limbs.

She melted into the ocean, becoming one with it. As she flowed through it along with the currents, she concentrated on her surroundings. Like a biological sonar, she searched for the ship, for a disturbance on the surface of that size. Damn Medusa, she could have at least told her how close the ship was to shore. Trying to pinpoint the exact ship needed was going to take a while.

On the sands, she would not be aware of the devious, evil smile that Medusa had as she returned to the others, or the magic she herself was unleashing and the command she was sending to her own magical creatures.

* * *

It had taken Siren some time. Even when she was one with the ocean, there was still a limit to how fast she could move. But, after many wrong ships, Siren had found the right one with the DWMA marking on it.

Sinking the ship hadn't been hard. She changed the water from its gentle caresses into a furious beater. Waves crashing onto the side, harder and harder with each one. It may have been sadistic, but Siren wanted to scare them first, make them uneasy before she went in for the kill. Before she sent them to their watery graves.

After beating the ship up a bit with waves, she had raised tendrils of water up, like the legs of a squid, they clamped onto the ship, forcing it to take on vast amounts of water. She could hear the screams of panic even from beneath the waves.

It wasn't hard to pull the ship under, there were countless different ways she could have gone about doing it. But in the end, the ship was sunk and Siren didn't care enough to see how many people were alive and how many were drowning with the ship. She did her job, the boat was down and people were stranded, some were dead even. Her job was done, she could go home and return to Jacko.

God, she hoped he wouldn't be too mad. She was way late. How many of the vegetables she bought were still there? Some wildlife had likely gone off with some of the food she bought or ate it while it was still in the bag. The coconuts should still be good, though, right? They don't need to be refrigerated if they were never cracked open? It's been a while since she had to deal with unrefrigerated coconuts, she'd have to look it up before having any or giving any to Jacko.

The sun was rising as she trudged home. But, as she reached for the door, she stopped, puzzled. It was open slightly, and she just pushed on the wood slightly and the door wide open. Did Jacko leave the house while she was gone and forget to close the door properly? Siren would have to chide him a little on remembering to close the door, she had no right to scold the child on leaving the house when she was gone for so long. She couldn't blame him for going outside, she knew she would have done the same in his shoes.

Putting the groceries on the island counter in the kitchen, Siren pursed her lips as she took in the state of the living room and kitchen. Fresh grooves had been dug into the floors and walls, claw marks, pillows and cushions were thrown all over and a handful of his toys were all over the floor too. The child must have been having fun playing some game. She couldn't help but smile as she got to work picking up the mess he left and straightening out the living room. She wondered what he had been playing to have gotten so wild and lost in his imaginary world.

She should go wake him up, he'd be happy to see her home, if not a little upset it took her so long. They could make breakfast together.

Smiling, Siren stepped into the hall and approached his bedroom door, a gentle knock before she pushed it open told her that he wasn't in there. Well, if he wasn't in his own room then it was most likely that he was on her own. A warm feeling filled her chest thinking of how he'd so often come to sleep with her when he didn't want to be alone in his own room, or that he'd burrow into her own bed if she was out too late and he was tired. Well, today had been one of the 'out too late' cases.

Walking just a little farther down the hall and she slowly pushed open the door to her bedroom, being extra careful not to make any sudden or loud noises. She didn't want to startle the poor awake.

Her stomach dropped at the sight and stench that greeted her.

Blood. Staining the floor and bits of the blankets that had been knocked to the floor. A small puddle of it laid there, staining the surface, partially dried up around the edges. She could see deep grooves into the ground where he must have dug his nails into the flooring.

"Jacko…?" she whispered, even though he was nowhere to be seen in the room. Her heart was racing, a beating drum in her chest, her head felt light. This was a dream, right? _Right_? With her breathing becoming uneven, she backed out of the room, legs quivering under her own weight as she grasped the door frame for support.

"Jacko!" Siren yelled, stumbling out of the room and into the hall. Where was he? Where was Jacko?

She threw open the door to the bathroom, to the basement, to the attic. But no matter where she looked in the house, he wasn't anywhere to be found. Her blood had gone cold, chilling her to the bone as her mind began going over the possibilities. What happened, where was Jacko? Where was her Jacko?

Siren's entire body was shaking now, rage and fear coursing through every fiber of her being. Her breathing had become labored as she found herself standing in the living room. Jacko wasn't… he wasn't anywhere in the house. Had someone taken him? Did someone hurt him? Who hurt him?

She was acutely aware of footsteps approaching from behind, padding on the floor, she was well aware that they weren't Jacko's. That knowledge only served to infuriate her.

"I see you've lost someone," Medusa taunted as she walked in Siren's house uninvited. Siren didn't need to turn around to know the expression she had. She had no patience for Medusa now, she didn't give a damn if the body she used was her own or not. Siren was well past angry at this point.

All through the house, sharp cracks resonated as pipes snapped open. Water shooting out from them and breaking through the floor, and in one fluid motion, completely encased Medusa, trapping her in a tendril of water. Suffocating her, drowning her.

Siren turned around, her expression the definition of murder. Slowly she stepped towards where Medusa laid, pinned under several tons of rushing water, gagging and choking as she was denied air. The Water Witch waited a few seconds as she knelt before the woman, finally allowing her to breathe as the water opened up around her head, but kept the rest of her pinned. The snake spluttered and coughed, spitting out mouthfuls of water.

"I'm just going to ask this once," Siren said, slow and steady as she reached over to grab a handful of blond hair, forcing Medusa to look up at her, "Where. Is. Jacko?"

Despite the pain and almost drowning, Medusa still had the cockiness to throw her a confident smirk, as though she were the one with the winning cards, "I could tell you, but it would do you no good to go charging blindly at them," she responded. Ah, so she _did_ know where Jacko was at. Siren wasn't amused and tightened her grip, threatening to rip a clump of hair right from her scalp. Satisfaction shot through her body when she saw Medusa's expression scrunch up in pain.

"If Jacko's been stolen, I have to get him back. I'm not going to sit back while some bastard has him," she growled. She didn't know who had him, or what they would do to him, and not knowing was torture in itself.

Voice hitching a bit, Medusa narrowed her eyes, "If you go marching in on the warpath, you'll only put him at risk. Is that what you want?" she questioned, and Siren faltered. There was… truth to what Medusa said. If Siren wasn't careful, whoever had him could and would hurt him, she couldn't risk bringing him any more pain that what he must be already enduring. The Snake Witch saw her hesitance, and went on, "I can help you get him back," she offered, "I can help you and Jacko reunite with him safe and sound."

Siren frowned, glaring at her, "And how can I trust you?" she asked, "you're not the type to do something out of the goodness of your heart."

"Because they took my child too," Medusa responded with venom in her voice, she almost sounded like a true mother angry at her stolen offspring. Almost. "All I ask is you put your trust in me."

"You're not exactly a trustworthy person," Siren pointed out, anger was coursing through her body, but… she couldn't deny that Medusa was a good ally to have when the enemy was strong. If they had taken both Jacko and Crona, then… Sighing, Siren let her go, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," she muttered, standing up and releasing the waters that pinned Medusa down. "Fine, I'll work with you some more, but, if I feel we aren't making progress," tendrils of water came up to Medusa again when the smaller one got on her feet, wrapping around her throat in a makeshift noose.

Medusa nodded, "Understood, now, if you'll follow me. We've quite a bit of work to do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations;  
> Mahalo: Thank you  
> Big Kahuna: Most important person on the beach/best surfer on the beach  
> A hui kaua: Until we meet again  
> A'ole: No/no way  
> Keiki: Child  
> keikikane: Son
> 
> I do know speak any Hawaiian, so gaining the translations have taken quite a few sites and research. But if I ever get the words wrong, let me know and I'll fix it to the best of my abilities.


	4. New Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jacko wakes up someplace new and strange, he's not too sure he likes it there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the story is almost finished down on ff.net, so hop on over there if you want to see the other chapters. This one on here will be back to updating once a week.

His head felt like lead, his body felt like a semi-truck had crashed into it while going at full speed. Everything had an ache to it, an unending throb, that grew stronger the closer it was to his stomach. His throat was dry, and he tried to swallow weakly, but he could barely muster enough spit from his tongue to sooth himself. There was a faint beeping sound echoing close to his ear, irritating, agitating, _too loud,_ it hurt his ears.

Slowly he forced his eyes to open a crack, bright lights quickly entered his blurry vision, blinding him. He closed his eyes tightly, then he tried to open them once again. He blinked a few times against the light that shined down on him in an attempt to blind. Eventually, though, Jacko's eyes adapted. The ceiling he stared up at… that wasn't his ceiling. More importantly, as he turned his head to look around, this wasn't even his home. He wasn't even wearing his clothes; he was wearing some kind of flimsy gown that he knew he didn't own instead.

Where was he?

Where was Siren?

Siren!

He swallowed again, hard. Panic bubbling up inside his chest as he tried to understand what had happened, what had happened before he woke up.

What happened? His memory felt fuzzy but...focus... Siren was… Siren was late, she hadn't come home and it was really late, so he had gone to sleep in Sirens bed while he waited for her. After a while he woke up in a lot of pain. His body still hurt in the same area, but it was nothing compared to the Hellish torture he felt like he was undergoing earlier. Something else had happened… Someone... Someone had come into the house, and came to him! Two people, it wasn't Siren. What else… he didn't know, the pain had been too much and he blacked out.

He attempted to push himself up, but his body screamed in protest as a flash of sharp, hot pain erupted from his stomach. Flopping back onto his back, he let out a hiss of air through clenched teeth. He attempted to rest his arm over his stomach to see, or feel, what it was, but he was met by several wires and cords attached to it. What… what were these?

With Jacko's mind a puddle of confusion, he simply laid there on the bed. Maybe if he just waited, his body would stop hurting and he could go looking for Siren. She must be looking for him, right?

The longer that Jacko laid there, the more he took notice that there were voices. Not in the room with him, but, outside of it. It sounded like two men who were talking, and face twisting into a frown, Jacko strained to hear what they were saying. But try as he may, he could only make out chopped up pieces of the conversation.

"…Witch wasn't there… just some kid…."

"Sorcerer, right?... pretty young… There?"

"Bleeding… had to perform... cut them out of him…"

"Just in time… horrible…"

That last voice sounded like a… woman's? He tilted his head, hearing hard shoes against the floor coming closer to the door as one of the men continued talking.

"Check up on… woken up yet."

The door was opened and Jacko quickly shut his eyes. Doing his best to play dead, or rather play sleeping in this scenario. He could hear the footsteps of the three approaching the bed, and the smell of smoke attacked his nose. It took all his willpower not to scrunch up his face at the disgusting scent. Cigarette smoke, it was so different from the clean, pure smell of smoke from the fire, he hated it.

"Vitals are stable, though he's still going to be quite weak for a while," one of the men said, the smoker he reasoned when he heard a soft 'woosh' sound of smoke being blown from his mouth. A strange creaking noise followed, one that Jacko couldn't quite put his finger on for what it could be, "if he moves about too much, he might reopen the stitching, not to mention all the pain, even more of a reason to keep him under surveillance."

"It was a pretty close call with him," the other man said from the other side of the bed, "how badly was the internal damage, anyways?"

Some more creaking-clicking noises from the first one, "Bad. There was an immense amount internal bleeding as a cause of the snakes tearing him apart from inside. Ribs broken, muscles, tissues and veins torn. Nothing too permanent, he's lucky they didn't go straight for his organs. Must have wanted to draw it out as long as they could, but it will take a while for him to recover," more smoke filled the air, and Jacko wondered if the other two were as disgusted by the smell as he was, "once he wakes up, we'll need to start questioning him."

Questioning Jacko for… what, exactly? He didn't do anything wrong, he didn't even know why he had been hurting.

A warm hand came up to his face, brushing strands of hair from his face. This was… the same hand from last night. Jacko had been too overwhelmed by the pain to notice the warm, comforting scent last night, but here and now he could. Siren? No… the hand was too warm to be her normally cool to the touch one, but it felt just as familiar. Continuing to brush and stroke his head, the woman began talking.

"Do you really need to question him once he wakes up?" she asked the men, "he's just a boy, he's going to be confused and frightened when he wakes up. I think it'd be better to wait until his stitches heal more."

There was a pause and a hum from one of the two men and the non-smoker spoke up, "You raise a fair point," he conceded, "we don't know what the kid will do if we go right into interrogation when he wakes up. If we get him too worked up, he might reopen his injury, or try fighting. Not that I doubt we'd be able to take him without any problems."

"Exactly," the woman said, "he's still just a little kid, regardless of what he is or isn't, and he's already been through quite a lot."

As she continued running her fingers through his hair, a pleasant, familiar feeling dripped inside of him, warming him more than his own fires ever could. Comfort and safety. Though he knew this woman wasn't Siren, he couldn't help but feel as though she was by the familiar motions and gentleness radiating from him. A purr came up from him as he pressed his head further into her hand much like a pleased kitten during a petting session.

That was a mistake, as the woman stopped, conversations stopped, and she withdrew his hand. Before Jacko could stop himself, a whine erupted from him at the loss of contact. Well, if they hadn't known he was awake before, they knew now. Slowly Jacko opened his eyes to look warily at the three adults surrounding him.

His eyes hit the smoker first, drawn by the awful stench of his cigarette, he was able to locate the creaking noise; a giant screw was in his head. There was a screw. In his head. Jacko couldn't help but stare at it, regardless if it was rude or not. A screw in a man's head, that was actually really neat. Did that mean his head was hollow for that to happen? Was it going through his brain too? There were also stitches across his face, and he had a neat lab coat. All in all, the smoker, Screw-Man as Jacko official dubbed him, looked really cool, even if he did smoke.

The other man, Mister Red, was… actually Jacko couldn't think of anything interesting about his appearance. He looked really bland compared to Screw-Man. He wore a suit, Jacko didn't see many of those outside of the entertainment box back home. His tie was kind of interesting too, kind of. Okay, Jacko, no, Siren said not to lie so he shouldn't lie to himself either. Mister Red was completely boring compared to Screw-Man, plain and simple.

Finally, his attention turned to standing closest to him. He was met with gold, black, and a warm smile. Gold brought her hand to his head again, brushing a few of his pale blonde hair from his eyes. She was almost as pretty as Siren was, and even the eye-patch that Gold wore didn't make her any less pretty. He purred as she began petting him again, and that seemed to make her smile more, tenderness radiating from her. Jacko decided that he liked her most out of these three adults.

"How long have you been awake?" Gold asked him, voice softer than when she spoke to Screw-Man and Mister Red. Then she shook her head before Jacko could answer, "No, that doesn't matter. More importantly, how are you feeling?"

Jacko tried to shift himself to sit up, but a jolt of pain ran through his abdomen and he whimpered, one hand coming to clamp over it.

That must have been answer enough and Screw-Man gave a nod to himself, "You're going to be in pain for a while, but don't move too much, you might end up reopening your stitching," he warned, but Jacko didn't really understand what he was saying. What were stitches? "We really should thank you," Screw-Man continued, tweaking with the screw in his head, "even though they were less than ideal ways to find out, we wouldn't have found out Medusa was still alive if her snakes hadn't been tearing apart your innards."

Jacko cocked his head to one side, confused. Still oh, so confused. What was this man talking about? He didn't have snakes inside of him, right? He would have felt them if he had, right?

"Don't go saying that, you're going to scare the boy," Gold scolded lightly as she handed Jacko a glass of water from a night stand, giving him relief for his parched throat and then moved to stand beside Mister Red and Screw-Man away from the bed as Jacko downed the water.

"Anyways, what are we going to do with him?" Mister Red asked them, jerking a thumb at Jacko, "Death's already gone and warned the school about him so no one would panic, but are we really going to be harboring a sorcerer in our building? With Medusa having infiltrated us already, doesn't it seem kind of risky? The students are going to be on edge with this."

"He's in no condition to fight," Screw-Man responded evenly, "physically he's at his weakest, and even if he was completely healthy, I doubt his magic had matured enough that he'd pose a problem to anyone here. I don't think he even understands where he is or who we are; if he does realize it then he's shown no sign of it. He's far from a threat."

The other just rubbed the back of his head, "That may be," he agreed, and heaved a sigh, "we still need to find the witch we were supposed to get in the first place. Damn, we almost had her, too, our trail led us straight to her home, now both she and her trail are completely gone."

"She must have known Marie and I were there," Screw-Man mused as he blew out a puff of smoke, "the ship we arrived on was sunk while she and I were out hunting the witch down. She's becoming more and more of a problem. Countless casualties from the floods and shipwrecks she's caused, towns are struggling with the sudden droughts. The sooner we can find and stop her, the better. It's reasonable to say that the boy might even be our key to getting her."

It was as though Jacko wasn't even there anymore as the three talked. Like they had forgotten he was there on the bed with tubes and wires stuck to his arm. He didn't even understand what they were talking about, they came to his home looking for someone? Did they want to talk to Siren? He felt a little insulted that they were ignoring him for the most part. But… no this was good if they didn't notice him, right? He could get out then. Screw-Man, Mister Red and Gold were all too busy with each other.

As the group were still discussing amongst themselves, Jacko continued to fidget in his bed. He didn't get what they were talking about; surgery? Snakes? What was going on? More importantly, where was Siren? He needed to get home, she was going to be sad if he wasn't home when she was! He didn't want her to get lonely!

He hurt, every bit of movement sent a new wave of pain through his body originating from his stomach. Throbbing like a pulse, sometimes it was soft sometimes it made him want to curl up. No, he couldn't let the pain hinder him. He had to suck it up and toughen it out, for Siren. So he could get home quick he'd put away the pain he felt. Besides, Siren would make the pain go away when he got to her.

The three adults were too distracted talking to each other as he tugged the blankets off of himself. The window was open, a perfect escape route. Gritting his teeth, he sat up and brought a hand to wrap around all the wires and tubes attached to his other arms. A deep breath before he ripped them off, feeling a sharp pain run up his arm and a long beep to ring from the device one of them had been attached too.

That got their attention and all three swiveled around to face him.

"Hey- wait!" Gold yelled out, reaching out to him as he tumbled out of bed. He faltered a second from discomfort as he pushed himself to his feet, but shook it off, dashing to the window, "Don't! Come back!" she tried, running to him, hand out to grab a hold of Jacko but she was late by a few seconds as he leaped out the window.

Okay, in hindsight, Jacko should had waited to see how high up he was before diving out a window, because as it turned out, he was _really_ high up. The ground was rushing towards him, air wooshing around him as he fell. It was hard to focus with his pain growing more and more intense by the second and with the three adults yelling from the window he came from. Focus, Jacko, focus. This was no different from the giant trees.

Closing his eyes, he concentrated, feeling his magic burning inside. He focused it all on his hands and feet, feeling his nails grow and curve, becoming sharp claws. Without waiting any longer, he grabbed onto the wall, digging his claws deep into the cement. Long gashes began to form in the building's exterior, but his fall was being slowed. It was such a simple spell, but he felt his body growing exhausted at a terrifying rate. HHe gritted his teeth as his fingers and toes began to burn.

Though it had only been seconds, it felt like his descent took hours. When he finally was close enough to the ground he let go and tumbled to the ground, falling flat on the paved sidewalk. Oh, this was a mistake. His hands and feet were screaming in pain, his nails were cracked, broken, a few fingertips were starting to bleed, and his body felt like it was on fire—not in the good, actually on fire way that he liked. Everything hurt, every part of him was asking why, oh, why did he jump out a window? No… no he had to get home, he had to get back to Siren.

Where even was he? He didn't recognize the exterior at all.

Jacko pushed himself to his knees, attempting to stand but his legs were like Jell-O, and he toppled over again. Groaning, he brought his arms to his stomach, what was that smell? He could feel something warm and wet dripping down his front. The gown he was wearing was turning red, too, and the pain growing more intense. His pain was gradually climbing back up to the ranks it'd been in last night.

"I tried to warn you not to move too much," Screw-Man said as he stepped into the courtyard. How'd he get here so fast?

Gold bolted past him, quickly kneeling beside Jacko, "are you okay?" she asked, pushing aside his arms, she tugged up the bloodied gown to examine his stomach.

Wrapped around his tanned flesh were bandages like the ones that Siren wore. Yet instead of the pristine, clean, white, they were dyed a deep red, blood dribbling down as it seeped through the fabric. Was that what Screw-Man meant by 'stitches' and 'surgery'? It hurt, that's what it was. His head was getting fuzzy, and a wave of nausea washed over him as Jacko weakly whimpered when she applied a bit of pressure.

"It's okay," Gold assured him, "it's nothing serious, we'll get you patched up again and stop the bleeding."

Jacko fought back weakly as Mister Red scooped him up into his arms, apparently uncaring if the blood stained his suit or that Jacko was trying to paw him away. His blows were too soft; the exhaustion he was being hit with left him with no strength to use. How could such a small action leave him so completely drained?

A few people had stopped to watch, all eyes falling on the group as Mister Red, with Gold and Screw-Man beside him, carried Jacko back into the building. Eventually it grew too tiring just to raise his arms to try and fight off the man carrying him through the halls. His body felt as though it were made of lead, and he gave in, letting himself be carried as his head began to droop, resting against Mister Reds shoulder.

He barely registered as they were carried up flights of stairs and Jacko was laid out on the bed once again. Gold was careful to close and lock the window this time as Screw-Man lifted up his gown. Bandages were removed, and cold water was run over his stomach, washing away the blood. Screw-Man injected him with some needle, and Jacko found himself loosing feeling in the area that had previously been bleeding. It didn't hurt, it felt numb. Was that supposed to happen?

With movements faster than Jacko had ever seen, the smoker had removed from his flesh black… things? He wasn't even sure what it was Screw-Man was removing from him. He couldn't even feel it as the man re-stitched him shut.

"Try not to run off this time," Mister Red ordered as fresh bandages were wrapped around him and a new, blood-less gown slipped over his small frame. He looked annoyed, but his expression softened quickly, "Look, kid, we're just trying to help you. You can trust us, we don't want to hurt you."

Jacko glared at him weakly, "Home," he said.

"Ah, so he speaks," Screw-Man said dryly.

He slammed his fist into the bed, disrupting Gold who had been in the middle of reapplying all the wires and things that he had ripped off himself, "Home!" he shouted, glaring at Screw-Man. "Home, home, home!" tears were pricking at the corners of his eyes. Jacko wanted to go home, he wanted Siren, he wanted something that was familiar in this unfamiliar place. _He wanted to go home!_

Mister Red shook his head, "Look, kid, we can't take you back there. For a number of reasons," he said, crossing his arms over his chest, "I'm sorry, but we can't let you leave."

That was not the answer that Jacko wanted, and he felt his own anger grow. The air around him was growing warmer and dryer as he started to cry, "Home! Go! Home!" he wailed, a falling into a tantrum despite the exhaustion his body felt. Magic was seeping from his small form, heating the air, heating his body as his own temperature began to rapidly increase. At this rate he was going to turn the room into a sauna and accidentally set the bed on fire. He didn't care if he set anything here on fire, this wasn't his home.

Maybe if he was loud enough… Siren would hear him!

Taking a deep breath, he forced as much air in as his lungs could handle. He had to be loud enough that Siren could hear even if the window was shut tight. " _Aaahooooooooooooooh! Aahooooooh! Aaah! Aaah! Aaahoooooh!_ " he howled, jerking up from the bed, ignoring the pain it caused his stomach despite the numbing effect. His head was tilted back and he had hot tears running down his cheeks now. Siren, come on, Siren, please come back! He was sorry for whatever he did that drove her away! Please! He was scared, he wanted Siren! " _Aaaahooooh! Aaahoooooh!_ " he went as loud as his voice could, it hurt his voice box but he kept howling.

"Jesus Christ!" he didn't know who shouted that, but they all reeled back, as though they'd never heard a howl before in their lives.

" _Aaahoooooooh! Aaaahoooh! Aaaah... Aaaah… Aahoooh…._ " He hiccuped, trying to catch his breath as he sobbed. It was getting harder to continue howling as he let out soft cries between. His throat had an unpleasant burn to it at this point, and his sounds becoming hoarse, " _Aaahoooh! Aaahoooooh!_ "

Arms wrapped around him, cutting off any more howls as he was pulled in to a hug. Gold rested her chin atop his head, holding him tight, the same way that Siren had held him so often, with the same amount of care and gentleness. It was familiar but brought over a wave of feelings he wasn't sure what to make of. He started sobbing harder as he clung to her shirt.

"It's okay," Gold assured him, rubbing the back of his head, ignoring any discomfort she might have on his hot skin, "calm down, okay? We're not going to hurt you, you're safe here."

He wanted to fight back, to keep howling, maybe if he went at it longer, Siren would come? But, his body began relaxing to her touch. His body began to cool down and he continued crying, letting outa low whine, sniffling a bit as he pressed against her. Seeking out that comfort and warmth she had to offer.

"Why am I not surprised he listens to you," Mister. Red mumbled in the background.

After a while, when his crying began to calm down, Gold pulled away from him, much to Jacko's displeasure, but she had a soft smile as she kept a hand on him as she grabbed a tissue and began wiping his face clean of his tears. "How about we make a deal?" she offered, and he tilted his head to the side in curiosity and interest, "you stay here until you've completely healed, it'll take a bit of time, and when you're back at full health, we'll take you home?"

"That wasn't what we—" Mister Red began, but was silenced with an elbow to his stomach.

Jacko frowned, thinking it over. He'd stay here until he was better and they'd take him home? That didn't sound like a bad deal, but how long until he got 'better'? He didn't want to wait too long, if he was gone too long, then what if Siren got lonely, or what if she forgot about him? He didn't want that to happen! But, just today showed that he wouldn't be able to get home on his own with how he was right now.

After a minute of thinking, he gave a nod, "Aigh," his voice was still hoarse and it hurt his throat a little.

Gold smiled, pleased by his answer, "Good! I promise we'll take good care of you," she told him, then her smile turned into a tiny frown, "you know, we never did learn your name, do you mind to tell us? It'd be weird calling you 'boy' and 'kid' the entire time."

"Jacko. Jacko Lantern," he answered slowly, giving them the name that Siren had given him when they met. Despite being a simple name, Jacko had struggled to even say his full name, more so than usual, but that was because of how tired his voice was from his desperate howls.

Though he had mild difficulty speaking, Gold smiled again, "Jacko Lantern? That is a nice name," she complimented, earning herself a smile from Jacko, "My name is Marie Mjolnir. Can you say that?"

He scrunched up his brow as he attempted to do as he was asked, "Ma…ree? Mull…ner? M'yol? M'yol… nir?" he growled, shaking his head rapidly. He gave up on saying her last name, "Maree! Marie!"

Even though he could only say half of her name, Gold seemed happy with it, and she gave a nod, ruffling his hair a little, "Yes, Marie," the woman confirmed, "Good job, Jacko." He felt his heart swell with pride at that.

Maybe this wouldn't be too bad? Siren would be happy if he stayed safe, and despite his initial misgivings and his tantrum, the three adults here were nice. They hadn't been mean to him or done anything mean to him, in fact they actually made his pain duller and patched him up. They were trying to be nice to him, especially Gold... Marie, not Gold, Marie. He could bring himself to like it here while he waited to recover, and Siren wouldn't want him to force himself to heal faster than he could, right? She would find him and come for him if he stayed in one place, too! When he got better, Jacko wanted to introduce Siren to Marie!

He was sure that she'd like them, they did fix him up, and that was sure to win them points with her! Oh, he'd have to apologize too, he left the house without telling her, and he was going to be gone for a while. But she shouldn't be too upset. Already Jacko was more eager than before to heal up and go back home. Siren, just wait a bit longer! He was going to be back home before too long!


	5. Noah's Ark

Standing at the Black Seas shore, Medusa couldn't help but grin in delight as she watched the tide gently come in and ease back out. It had only been a few days since she had picked Siren up from Hawaii, gotten her to join forces with her yet again, and already she had given the young woman quite a list of tasks and mayhem to complete which she had been more eager to perform than before. Anger could do funny things to a person. Floods all over the world, ships being capsized and the waves brought them under, rivers being stolen. All at a much grander scale than what she had done while Medusa prioritized the resurrection of Asura.

While that was still the preferable option of her plan, she would be lying if she said she didn't get a good deal by having Siren as her new toy. Just the thought of all the damage she could do, it brought sensations of glee through her tiny body.

Eruka, standing a respectable distance behind her, made an audible gulp as the two watched a ship that had harbored a few DWMA affiliates be swallowed up by a rather sizable wave. Oh, how much more useful Siren was now that she had a personal vendetta against their targets.

Sure, this hadn't been her original plan. Nothing had gone according to what she had spent years meticulously planning. Her resurrection of Asura failed, and for what reason? They had been too _slow_. Well, not her specifically, Medusa was not going to take the blame for the folly of Free and Eruka. The grim reapers son and the annoying, egotistic 'assassin' had caught up to the two before they ever even reached the Kishin. It was startling that they had managed to escape in in the first place. But, not all was lost. No, Medusa still had her backup plan, a plan she genuinely didn't think she'd have to rely on.

Jacko Lantern.

Her snakes had still been sleeping inside of him, and the dumb, feral brat had never even realized it. His guardian would be completely under her thumb if she used that to her advantage, the woman would do anything if it ensured the boy would be safe from harm. But still, she only did things halfway, sloppily. She got things done to the point that they were acceptable but not to completion. She had no interest in her tasks beyond the primary objective and she could do _so much_ better if she put more into her magic. The girl had so much destructive potential, and if that potential was put to use through the unbridled emotion of rage. Her plan to unleash that anger and wrath had, of course, been stopped through an unexpected disruption in the form of a meddlesome duo. But, that only opened a better door for her, gave her a way to control that rage.

"I still don't understand the point of all this," Eruka murmured from the warm sands behind her.

Watching the violent waves crash about at sea, tossing any survivors of the shipwreck around like ragdolls, Medusa gave a chuckle, "Oh, Eruka. You poor, stupid, fool." She crooned, not bothering to look at the Frog Witch, "Do you really not understand the potential there is for us? Use that tiny brain of yours; the Earth is seventy-one percent water, and the human body's composition is made of over fifty percent water. Our dear Siren is a manipulator of said water, she has so much power over this very world, a power that she never bothered to use." But Medusa planned to change that and put that magic to its full use and glory.

"I get _that_ ," Eruka argued, jumping back slightly as a big wave crashed onto shore, then she shot a nervous look at Medusa and then to the sea, "what I don't understand is why you want her so badly. She's strong, I understand that, but how is she going to help you reach the end goal? Are you planning on having her drown everyone from inside their own bodies?"

Giving a few clicks of the tongue, Medusa turned away from the sea to face the taller woman, "You've heard of the story of Noah's Ark, correct?" she asked the younger witch, earning a noise of affirmation, "of course you have. God was angry and flooded the world for forty days and forty nights, to destroy and cleanse the Earth. It brought about a drastic change where only a select number were saved. What if we brought about another flood? Where only the worthy will survive, and with the DWMA decimated by the flood, the world will change and grow anew, it will evolve. Perhaps more so than if I had used Asura instead."

"And Jacko?"

"He's nothing more than the ignition that allowed me this chance to control her," Medusa responded, she did not care for the boy and what happened to him. But she had to admit he was useful in some ways and was perhaps the only way she could control Siren was if the child was involved, "I don't even know what's become of him. He's probably alive with the DWMA, I doubt they have it in them to kill a little boy even if he's a sorcerer. But, he's served his purpose and gave Siren a focus for her anger and hate, all we have to do is guide that wrath."

Eruka made a noise, somewhere between worry and fear. Her expression made it clear she wasn't all too fond of this plan, but it mattered little to Medusa. The woman was just another pawn in her game. She had her uses, and that was the only reason she was still alive right now, so long as she kept being useful, Medusa would keep her around, it didn't matter if she supported the Snake Witch's plans or not. She didn't have the choice.

The waves were breaking and Medusa turned around just as Siren was stepping back onto the beach. Her body semi-transparent as it kept its aquatic form. Small air bubbles in the water she was made up of now, her bandages coiling around her, the water they soaked up allowing her to manipulate them. Then, she began to 'dry up'. Whereas her body regain its solid for; the water running off of her, forming a big puddle at her feet that drained back into the sea, revealing golden brown flesh and dark blue hair as though it had always been there under all that sea water.

She had bags under her eyes, a sign of the lack of sleep she had received since Jacko's abduction, brought about by stress and worry for his safety. She was much angrier, stressed and Medusa had to confess that she didn't have as tight a leash on Siren as she would have liked. One wrong move and Medusa and her host body Rachel could find themselves drowning as she was pulled into the ocean. Or worse… the body was composed of quite a bit of water… Medusa had to be cautious with every word and action around the Water Witch.

"You did spectacular," Medusa applauded as the woman trudged forward, earning only a tired glare from the witch. "At this rate, we will be able to spread the DWMA's forces thin as they scramble about trying to pinpoint where we are."

"Kulikuli!" Siren snapped, clearly not in the mood for any sort of conversation with Medusa. There was the fury of all the seas in her gaze, and had Medusa been a lesser woman she may have flinched at the intensity. "I don't care about that B.S and roundabout way of chipping away at them, I just want what is mine back and to drown the entire school for taking him in the first place."

The clear frustration in Siren pleased Medusa, it showed that she was taking the proper steps forward. The image of all those fools struggling to survive as their precious stronghold was flooded was also a pleasant idea. But, no, it was much too early. Prolong it as much as she can, and Siren will grow angrier and angrier. She wanted, no, she _needed_ the witch at her breaking point when she was filled with so much hate and anger her soul could barely contain it. Right now Siren may be pissy, but she wouldn't go as far as flooding the entire world. Wouldn't bring about the sudden destruction and change that Medusa wanted her to.

The snake just shook her head, "It's much too early for that," she said as gently as she could, "If we go in on the warpath, without any sort of plan or strategy, not only will we stand no chance, but both our children may be killed. I _know_ the DWMA, I know how they work, and the fools will use Jacko and Crona against us."

The school could kill Crona for all Medusa cared; the child and weapon were a failure anyways. Maybe the pair could make themselves useful as spies, but Medusa had no dire need for them to survive anymore. But, she'd lie about being concerned for both Crona and Jacko because it would affect Siren. The woman had a pitifully pathetic soft spot for children, it was laughable.

As expected, the fire in Siren's eyes softened with fear at the idea of the two being executed. She ground her teeth and whirled around, back facing Medusa as she let out a cry of frustration. The sea responded in harmony as waves crashed violently onto the shore, throwing a few fish up with them. Eruka backed up in fear, but Medusa stood her ground. It was good that Siren was getting frustrated, getting angry.

"We just need to keep picking away at their defenses," Medusa reasoned, stepping forward so she was beside Siren, placing a hand on her tanned one in a 'comforting' manner. Playing the role of an equally worried guardian figure with such believability that she ought to be given an Oscar, "If we cut them off from important assets, spread their forces and taken them down, we'll be able to weaken Death and the DWMA enough that we can march on in and take back the children without fear of failure. You must be patient and trust me."

Siren pulled her hand away from Medusas and bared her teeth, "Forgive me if you're not exactly a trustable person, I still think you're hehena," she growled, but then she let out a huff. Reluctance and acceptance clear in her expression. Her hand came to hold on to the yin-yang turtle necklace she wore around her neck. A trifling, useless trinket in Medusa's own opinion but it seemed to hold some pitiful value to Siren. "Fine, fine, I'll wait, for now. But if they hurt Jacko the gloves come off."

"I understand perfectly," Medusa nodded and began walking, "we should hurry now, I want us long gone by the time teams arrive to investigate your little _mess_ ," Medusa said, casting one last look to the Dead Sea and the debris of the destroyed ship that floated in the waves, a jolt of excitement ran through her. This time, she wasn't going to fail, she _couldn't_ fail. So long as she kept Siren from reaching Jacko then victory was guaranteed.


	6. Babysitters

There was probably some kind of limit to how bored a person could be, and Jacko was pretty sure he'd already surpassed that theoretical limit. He was well beyond bored. He had hit 'bored' sixty miles back on this nonexistent highway.

It had only been a few days, not even a week since Jacko had first awoken in the infirmary bed. The three adults took turns watching over him, mostly to be sure that Jacko didn't try to get up and run off again like he had the first day of his stay. Of course, Jacko, being the ball of energy that he was, had gotten out of bed numerous times to try and alleviate his boredom, to stretch his legs, to do anything but _lay in bed_ all day. All he wanted to do was move around the room and play, he didn't even care about not going outside if he could have his fun playing indoors. Though, his version of playing tended to be a bit more on the rough side and he wound up with a few of his stitches torn by the time someone managed to get him back in bed. This of course was prolonging his recovery as Miss Mummy—whom he later that day learned was called 'Nygus', but he preferred Miss Mummy—told him.

When Jacko had first agreed to the little arrangement of his stay, he had been perfectly fine with it. He was content at the time with waiting, having assumed that his recovery just meant a day or two of bedrest. Like whenever he came down with some cold or a stomach bug at home, Siren would make him stay in his bed for a day, maybe two, and then he was fine. They'd watch things together, she'd read to him, little things so he could rest and not be bored. When that theory had been proven wrong, and he realized just how long he was going to be stuck here, Jacko's mood turned sullen and he, like any child who did not get his way, gave them a bit of attitude for a day.

The only thing that really kept him perked up was that he was certain that Siren was going to be coming any day to take Jacko home. After all, there was no way she would just sit by with him missing and not come get him. As far as he understood, the three took him away from his home without her knowing, so, knowing Siren, she would be upset by this. There was no way she wouldn't come searching for him. It was only a matter of time before she arrived, she promised him after all. She promised that no matter where he went, she'd be able to find him and come for him.

He missed her.

It had only been a couple of days, but he missed her terribly so. Jacko had grown so used to being at her side almost every day that he had forgotten what it was like when she wasn't around. He was going to try and be as perky as always, but things felt _wrong_ with her gone. His heart ached and sometimes during the night he just started howling for her. He never got any howls back in return.

It felt like there was a hole in his chest, it hurt a different kind of hurt. A lonely kind of hurt. He knew that the only way that feeling would go away was if he was with Siren again.

Sure, Marie, Mister Red, and Screw-Man were almost always around, same with Miss Mummy, but they couldn't compare to Siren. Siren was special, she was someone that no one could ever replace. She had the best smile, she knew how to make him happiest. She had been there for him when no one else was, she was the only one who ever wanted Jacko, who ever kept him. She gave him a home, she gave him safety, she even gave him love. He didn't want to lose any of that, he didn't want to lose Siren.

But! But, he wasn't going to lose her! Any day now she'd come right through the stainless door, sweep him up into her arms and smother him with hugs. She'd tell him how worried she'd been, how mad she was that he was gone, then assure him that it wasn't his fault, that he wasn't in trouble. Of course Siren would then have some words with the three who brought him here, they'd talk for a little bit, she'd make sure to keep a hold on him as though if she let go, Jacko and her would be separated again. Then, she'd pick him up and take him back home. They'd have dinner, she'd make him some chicken, they'd curl up on the couch and watch something together and she'd let him sleep in her bed with her.

So, despite how lonely he felt with her gone, Jacko knew he had to stay strong for her when she got here. She'd be so proud of him if he didn't cry anymore like he did the first day when he threw his tantrum.

That didn't mean the wait was any less boring. Come on, Siren, get here sooner! At this rate, Jacko was going to die of boredom!

Mister Red… er, _Spirit_ , he corrected himself, was sitting on one of the chairs, reading some kind of magazine and occasionally throwing a glance at Jacko. Like the other two, he was watching over Jacko until he got let go in a few hours. To keep him from leaving and to keep others from coming in, Jacko heard one of them say at one point. He wasn't all too bad, like Marie, he did try to be nice and keep Jacko comfortable. He and Marie were pretty decent people to have watch over him. The jury was still out on Screw-Man however, on that front.

"We should be getting you food in a little bit," Spirit commented as he looked up at Jacko again.

The boy perked at the word 'food', cocking his head to the side as he looked at Spirit with wide eyes, "Chic?" he asked with a hopeful look. He wanted chicken, then again, he always wanted chicken.

The red haired man just cracked a small smile, "Chicken, right?" he asked, and Jacko nodded his head, "I'll see if I can find any in the cafeteria, no promises though. But, if they have some, I'll scrounge you up a plate of it." At that, Jacko's grin grew wide as could be. He was eager for mealtime now at the possibility of getting some chicken with it. Maybe if he was lucky he'd also get some juice instead of milk!

He made a rumble in his chest, somewhere close to a purr as he nestled back into the pillows of the bed. His stomach still had a dull ache to it, but it was so much more bearable now than it had been before. Jacko couldn't even call it pains anymore, it didn't hurt, just ached, and Jacko was used to aches.

He heard a rustle from the chair and turned to look at Spirit again. The man was putting down the magazine and lifting himself up from his chair.

"I'm off to take a leak," Spirit explained as he stretched a little to get rid of his own aches from sitting for so long, "I'm sure you can take care of yourself and behave for a few minutes, I'll be back shortly," he said as he slipped out of the room.

Now Jacko was left all alone in the room, not something he got very often nor for very long.

He glanced at the window; it had been left open as to let fresh air into the room. Jacko suspected that his injuries were well enough at this point that they wouldn't tear open if he moved wrong, not if he was careful. The magic that had been drained by the snakes that had apparently been inside of him had, while not fully restored, recovered enough to get him by too. Maybe.

If he really wanted to, this was the perfect opportunity for Jacko to leave, to escape and return home on his own. He was more aware of where he was now, he could use his claws to get down from the building without causing too much damage to his fingers, and if he was quick enough he could be on the ground and moving before Spirit returned.

But, even if he did get out of the building, Jacko had no idea where in the world he even was. An English speaking country, sure, but Siren said there were more than just their island that spoke English. Even from his view out the window, he could tell the town was big, he could get lost. More so, how was he even going to get back to the island in the first place? There were too many doubts in a possible escape, and Jacko didn't need to be a genius to know that it wouldn't have worked.

No, he wouldn't escape. Jacko had resigned himself to accept that there was no point to it. He just had to be patient, then Siren would come, or Marie would take him back home herself when he was healed. So, he opted instead to just look out the window rather than go a second round at skydiving out of it.

The only good thing about his stuffy room was that he had a great view of the city from his bed. Death City he was told it was called, and Jacko could vaguely remember Siren and other witches mentioning it now and then whenever he and Siren went to those meetings among witches. Not that he really understood the significance of the place. It looked like a pretty city, he'd never seen a place with so many buildings before, packed so tight together. He wanted to be able to explore this city one day.

"Come on! The room should be empty now!"

The sudden shout from outside his room caused Jacko to give a jolt in surprise, his head snapping forward to face the door. Someone was running in the hall, someone loud. He could also just barely make out the sound of someone else running after the loud one, the softer footsteps almost drowned out by the loud boy.

"Blackstar! I told you—this isn't a good idea!" the second person snapped, not as loud as the first one, "I'm not all too happy about them being here either, but Lord Death allowed this. You shouldn't be charging into this fight, especially not without Tsubaki!"

"Psh! She's sick, I'm not dragging her into a fight when she's not well! Besides, I can handle this on my own!" said the loud one… Blackstar?

Before he could do anything, the door was slammed open with enough force that it gave a loud crack as it hit the wall, and it was a miracle that it didn't come flying off the hinges altogether. But, it had startled Jacko enough that he jerked back in the bed, eyes wide at the door with fear and confusion coursing through him. Uncertain as to what was happening. A boy much older that Jacko yet younger than Siren stood in the door frame, marching forward into the room with a proud strut and a gleam of confidence that Jacko had never seen in anyone else before. It was as though he owned the whole world.

What caught his attention most was the hair. It was blue, like Sirens, but a great deal lighter in color than her dark tone.

"Behold, I, the great Blackstar am here!" his rooms intruder loudly announce himself, a gigantic grin stretched across his face, "Prepare to taste defeat at the hands of the man who will surpass God, witch!" he shouted, puffing out his chest in pride. Didn't that smile hurt his face?

Jacko could only stare at him with wide, nervous eyes, not quite sure what to make of all of this. Why was this boy calling Jacko a witch?

A girl quickly dashed into the room when Blackstar finished his speech, grabbing a hold of him, "Idiot!" she yelled, "You're not supposed to go in here, especially not without any way to fight back!" she began to try and drag him out but he would not budge, "Blackstar! I'm serious! You can't just fight anyone you want, even if it's a witch! A… witch?"

She trailed off as she stared at Jacko, and he, in turn, stared back at her, raising a hand to offer her a wave. Even the boy looked startled when he finally took a look at the so-called witch he had been planning to fight.

"Wait, who the Hell are you? You're not a witch," Blackstar asked, tugging himself from the other's grip and closing the distance so he was right at Jacko's bed, "I mean, you're not, are you? I thought witches were girls." He turned over to look at the girl, "Hey, Maka, witches are only girls, right?"

The blonde sighed, "Yes, Blackstar. A witch is generally a female magic user."

"Sorcer," Jacko chimed in, hoping to be of some help to them by offering an explanation of what he was. Both looked at him, as though they didn't think he'd speak, and he tried again, a bit louder this time, "Jacko… sorcer."

Blackstar frowned, eyebrows furrowing up in confusion, "Sorcer? What's a sorcer…Oh! Do you mean 'Sorcerer'?" he asked, and to that Jacko nodded his head. The older boy scratched the back of his own head, looking back at Maka, "He's a sorcerer, but didn't Professor Stein say that it was a witch they had recovering in here? I coulda swore he said it was a witch."

The girl shook her head, not all too certain herself, "Well, he never specifically said it was a _witch_ that was staying in here… I guess we, we just kind of assumed he was a witch," she admitted, "I'm kind of surprised though that it's a kid that was in here the whole time—Blackstar you're not fighting a little kid," she added quickly before the boy could even bring up the idea of fighting Jacko.

Blackstar grumbled as he sat at the edge of the bed, arms crossed over his chest, "Jeeze, I wasn't planning on it! Even if he is a sorcerer, I'm not going to fight some runt! He wouldn't be a challenge at all for someone as great as me!"

Jacko couldn't help but feel a little insulted by the lack of faith they had in his capabilities and frowned at Blackstar. He wasn't some weak little kid, sure he wasn't a master at his magic, but he knew enough to get by! "Jacko strong! Jacko win!" he argued, kicking at his intruder to try and get him off the bed; though it hurt Jacko's foot more than it seemed to bother Blackstar.

A fire seemed to shine in Blackstar's eyes at that, "Oh? Is that a challenge?" he asked, sliding off the bed and looking at Jacko with an eager look, the look of someone starving for a good fight, "I mean, if you're really as strong as you're claiming to be, then I'm all up for a fight!"

Leaning forward in the bed, Jacko glared at him, preparing to jump off and duel, "Jacko win!" he said assertively, feeling the air warm up around his hands. It'd been so long since he used his magic, not counting something as small as altering his nails, but to use his fire magic, he was itching to let it out. A fight would be a good way to release all his pent up energy from being confined in the room for so long too!

He grinned, pushing himself up to crouch on the bed, muscles tensing and he prepared to pounce, he could see Blackstar tensing up too, ready for a fight.

"There won't be any fighting."

Both boys twisted their necks to stare at the doorway like a pair of deer in headlights. Spirit stood there, looking rightfully annoyed at the both of them as he walked in. Maka stood off to the side as he approached Blackstar and tugged him away from the bed, putting distance between the two boys.

"You two won't be fighting at all," Spirit said once more, giving Blackstar a hard look, "You're not even supposed to be in here," before Blackstar could say anything, he went on as he pushed Jacko to sit back down in his bed, "we don't want you causing Jacko here to open up any of his stitches, Stein's gotten tired of replacing them every time he starts playing, and if he gets in a fight they're all going to open up again."

Blackstar shrank back with an 'oh' noise, slinking back to the wall to give Spirit some space as he got Jacko settled back in the bed.

There was a strange look on Spirits face, one that Jacko couldn't put his finger on, but he recognized had crossed Siren's face a few times. Usually when she was forced to go and leave home for periods of time when she didn't want to. Almost always when she did something she didn't want to but had no choice.

"Some…thin…. Wrong?" Jacko asked slowly.

Spirit shook his head, "No, nothing's wrong," he assured the boy, "Look, Stein, Marie and I, we're going to be gone for a few days, we have a mission to do, something came up in the Middle East, we have someone to find. So, we're not going to be around to watch over you until we get back, it's kind of sudden, but, I'm sure you can handle us being gone."

The boy frowned. Spirit, Marie and the Screw-Man, Stein, were going away? But, he liked them. He was… going to be left alone again? This was like Siren all over again, what if they never came back to her? He was going to be left all alone again, were they going to leave him all alone locked up in this room until they got back?

He curled his hands into fist, unable to keep the disappointment off his face. Spirit reached forward to pat him on the shoulder, "Hey now, kiddo, it's not all that bad. I promise we'll be back. I'm sure Marie would love to tell you how it went; you like Marie, right?" the red haired man offered, "we won't be gone too long, and hey, we trust you enough that you won't go and run away while we're gone, isn't that something?"

"Jacko… Jacko no wanna be alone!" he argued as though his words would be enough to make someone stay. Surely not all three of them needed to go, right?

Spirit rubbed the back of his head, looking as though he wasn't sure what to say.

"I can watch over him."

Turning around, both looked over to Maka who had her hand raised to volunteer. She stepped forward to get closer to Jacko, "I mean, he's a little kid, of course, he's not going to want to be alone, and he's going to need someone to watch him while you're gone anyways, like any kid. I can watch him while you're gone."

Spirit had a look of relief on his face, "Oh, Maka, thank you," he said, and then turned back to Jacko, "Looks like you won't be alone at all. You're going to have the DWMA's brightest student watching over you, how lucky is that?" he asked the boy.

For his part, Jacko just looked at Maka and tilted his head to the side, "Mah…kah?" he asked slowly, when the blonde nodded, he gave a smile, "Mah, kah, Maka!" he was proud to have gotten her name right, and then turned to the boy who he almost fought, trying to force his tongue to form the words, going slowly with broken syllables, "Blah…ack…star? Star? Star!" No, Star was shorter and easier to say than 'Blackstar'. Jacko had the right to be lazy with names when it was harder for him to speak than it was for others.

"Yep," Spirit said, ruffling his hair a little, "Maka and 'Star'," he chuckled at the nickname Jacko gave the boy, "Me and the others, we won't be leaving until later, I think Marie is dropping down to visit you before we head out, so you've got some time before we leave. Maka, you might want to go see Marie, fill her in on your new task, she can let you know anything you need to watch over him."

Maka nodded and Blackstar walked back over to the bed, bending over Jacko, "You and me, kid," he began, grinning as he gave Jacko a light punch to the shoulder, "We're going to have that fight, once you're given the A-Okay, and then I'll be the judge of if you really are as strong as you're saying."

Puffing out his chest much like Blackstar had when he strode into the room, Jacko nodded, "Jacko win!" he bragged, earning a laugh from the boy.

"We'll see about that," Blackstar retorted as he followed Maka out of the room, giving out a loud laugh as he left.

Jacko couldn't help but keep smiling even as the two were gone and just he and Spirit remained in the room. It was funny, he thought, Blackstar had been ready to start a war, but when he saw Jacko it was like they were friends, he didn't understand how that worked, but he liked it anyways. He liked not making enemies. and he was looking forward to being with Maka. He wasn't going to be left alone, in fact, maybe he was going to make some new friends, that would be good. That just meant more friends to introduce when Siren finally arrived to get him. The two seemed nice, and he could see himself getting along with them if they were anywhere near as nice as Spirit and Marie.

The weapon looked at him and sat down at the edge of the bed, "Okay, so, I should go over some rules for you while we're gone," Spirit said as he drew in Jacko's attention, "First of all, you are to behave for Maka. Do as she says and don't cause her any trouble," he began, holding up a single finger, Jacko nodded to show he understood the first rule, "Second, you're stitches should be good enough that you can move around now, but you can't do anything rough. If you start feeling pain you need to stop and rest, let Maka know. If you start bleeding you come back here and get Nygus—you remember who Nygus is, right?"

"Nygus… Miss Mummy!" Jacko chirped.

Spirit chuckled at that, nodding his head, "Yes, Nygus is Miss Mummy," he agreed, a small smile ghosting his features, "But if your stitches hurt at all, don't strain them further. Don't go running off either, stay with Maka at all times. If you run off, trust me; she'll track you down. You don't want to get on her bad side either, so don't do anything you know will upset her."

The boy just nodded again, "Jacko behave," he promised.

Reaching over, the man just ruffled Jacko's short hair a bit, "I'm sure you will. All three of us are putting our trust in you to behave while we're gone," he said, standing up, "Think of this as a test, too. If Maka has nothing but good things to say about you when we get back, we might let you more mobility, you'd prefer that then continuing to stay on bedrest, right?"

The option of being able to walk and move around without getting in trouble? Of course he'd prefer that over being in bed for days at a time! "Ye! Ye!" Jacko grinned and nodded his head, showing just how much he liked that idea.

Another smile found its way to Spirits features, "Good. Now, can you repeat to me the rules?" he asked.

Nodding again, Jacko's smile never faltered. "Jacko behave! Behave for Maka! Miss Mummy if Jacko hurt!" he listed, counting off on his fingers, "Jacko stay by Maka! Righ, righ?"

Spirit nodded his head this time, "'Righ,'" he agreed, using Jacko's word to cement it, "Good. Now, we've just got to wait for Maka and Marie to arrive, and then you can consider yourself under Maka's care for the next few days."

Jacko made a few chirping noises to show how happy he was about this, or rather to just be let out of the stuffy infirmary room finally. He perched on his bed and looked at Spirit, now having another question nagging at him. "Where 'Middle Eas'?" he asked him.

"The 'Middle East'," Spirit corrected, "is a transcontinental area comprised of multiple nations. We have a few former students stationed there, and some trouble's come up that we need to check in on.."

That only raised a few more questions for him. Not counting that Jacko had no idea what 'transcontinental' even meant. "Trouble? What trouble?"

But the man just shook his head, "Sorry, kiddo, that I can't tell you," he apologized, pretending not to notice Jacko pouting, "Even if I did, it's stuff I don't want to bother you with. You wouldn't be interested in it." Well, that wasn't a fair assumption to make, maybe he would be interested in it. Jacko's pout grew, but, it was clear that Spirit wasn't going to tell him what had happened.

There was a faint knock on the door that drew both to attention and a 'that was fast' was muttered under Spirits breath. A moment later the door opened and Maka and Marie stepped in. Both having a small smile of their own as they entered. In Marie's hands was also a pile of clothing, familiar fabrics and familiar shades that had Jacko perk up in his bed as he eyed the gray and white clothes.

"I figured you might like something other than a hospital gown," Marie explained as she saw him eying the clothes and put his outfit onto the foot of the bed, "I had them all washed up so you can wear them fresh and clean."

He was delighted, to say the least. His ragged pants, his vest, his gloves and boots. Clean, they had a nice smell to them. He brought the gray shirt to his face and took in a deep inhale. It'd lost its ocean scent, but was replaced by something fruity. His cravat was whiter than he remembered it, and the colors seemed brighter, newer almost. But it was the same outfit that he loved and adored, the same one that Siren got for him.

Jacko tugged off his gown, leaving him in just a pair of tidy-whities. Eagerly he reached for the button up shirt but found himself struggling to undo the black buttons sewn on.

Laughing a little, Spirit took the shirt from him, forcing the boy to hold still as he worked on the buttons, "Here, I'll help you," he said, slipping the shirt onto Jacko and then buttoning it up.

As Spirit went about helping to get the clothes on him, Maka turned to Marie with a hand on her hip, "So, how old is he, anyways?" she asked her, glancing over at Jacko, a frown finding its way to her face as she took in his form, "He's pretty small."

Marie nodded and brought a hand to her face, "I don't think he's that old, maybe eight years old? Certainly not older than ten. It's hard to tell, and I don't think he even knows."

Giving a hum, Maka turned to look back at the boy who was now struggling with Spirit in getting the suspenders on his pants. Wiggling and crawling out of the Death Scythes grip, and being nothing more than a giggling, playful mess. It was an innocent scene, one that was hard to expect of a being born of something as destructive as magic.

"Eight sounds about right," Maka agreed softly, hands behind her back and cast a worried look to Marie, "Um, if you don't mind me asking. What happened? The mission the three of you are going on, I mean. The way it was so sudden, it sounds like something bad happened."

There was a pause of silence before Marie gave a small sigh, "Well, the witch we've been looking for, the one that brought us to Jacko, she was spotted by the Dead Sea," she explained, crossing her arms over her chest, "A couple of meisters and weapons were out in the sea on a mission and were attacked. They sent Death a message informing him of what was going on, if it's anything like the last incidents, she's drowned them already. But, it's given us a trail to follow again, and hopefully we can catch up to her this time, or figure out where she's striking next."

"The witch… the water manipulating one, right? I think I've heard Stein mention her a few times in class, she worked with Medusa, right?" Maka asked.

"That's right, and thanks to Jacko we know Medusa is still alive. We've reason to believe that the two are traveling together because of their previous alliance. If we can find one, we have a better chance at finding the other."

Before Marie could finish at all, Jacko bounded over and pushed himself to stand between the two woman. Standing tall and proud in his dark getup, he grinned wide as he looked at the two for approval.

Marie smiled and ruffled his pale blonde hair, "You look handsome, Jacko," she complimented, crouching down to his level and went about adjusting the collar of his shirt, "I think the cravat suits you just perfectly."

The boy's eyes sparkled and he gave her a full-toothed smile, making a chirping noise that could only be taken as him being happy.

Standing back up, Marie turned to Maka and fixed her with a sterner expression, "I trust that you'll be able to take care of him while we're gone?" she asked, like a mother preparing to send her child off to some relative for a few weeks.

Maka nodded to her, reaching over to place a hand on Jacko's shoulder, "We'll be fine, if I run into any trouble I'll ask Nygus or Sid for help," she assured her.

"Miss Mummy! Miss Mummy!" Jacko chimed in.

Marie's expression softened and she gave a nod, "Of course, I shouldn't doubt you," she apologized, "Jacko, you behave for Maka, we'll be back before too long." Jacko only gave a few barks in response, and she smiled, patting him on the head like one pet a dog, "Take care you guys, we'll be back in a few days' time."

With that she left with Spirit following behind, leaving Maka and Jacko alone in the small room. After a few beats, Maka turned to Jacko with a smile, holding a hand out to him.

"Well, let's not stay in here any longer," she offered, "I've got to go grab Soul, and then the three of us can go do something, how does that sound?"

Jacko stared at her a few moments, at her face and at her hand outstretched. Soul? Like the thing inside of people? Was she going to eat a soul? That… was something he wanted to see happen actually. Smile taking over his face, Jacko quickly too her hand in his much warmer one, nodding his head quickly. "Ye! Ye!" he cheered.

It was going to be his first time actually out of the room, not counting the time he jumped out the window. And as he followed Maka out in the hall, he was already finding his breath stolen by how amazing it all was.

The ceiling went so much higher than any building he'd been in before. The floors were so shiny too! Jacko could see his reflection if he stared down, it was like walking on a mirror! So many people, too! Jacko was no stranger to crowds; he'd seen masses of witches during the occasional meeting Siren went too, and whenever he went with her into the small town by their home, there were people in the markets. But these groups seemed different.

Maka was talking about something too, he assumed she was talking about the building they were in, but she had lost his attention, Jacko was more interested in taking in the funny looking décor that filled the halls. Why were there so many skull shaped things hanging around?

He nearly walked right into Maka when she came to a stop at one of the doors. His nose hitting the back of her legs and he frowned, looking up in confusion. But Maka just gave him a smile, as though to tell him everything was alright. Was this where she was getting a soul to eat?

Pushing the door open, Maka stepped in with Jacko right on her heels. The room was big, with several desks lined up. There was only one other person in the room, a boy with white hair. Maka looked annoyed when it was clear that the boy was sleeping, and Jacko only felt curiosity as he followed her up the steps to reach the row the boy was at.

He was snoring lightly, a thin trail of drool coming out of his open mouth as he used his arms as pillows. Jacko stared at him for a few seconds and then turned to Maka, watching intently as she picked up the book that was on the desk beside him and raised it high into the air. Her expression was that of pure irritation, mouth curled into a frown and brows scrunched up like Sirens face got whenever she was talking to people she didn't like.

With a movement so fast that you'd miss if you blinked, Maka brought the book down hard onto the boy's head. The sound the connection made echoed in the room and was enough to make Jacko fall to all fours and back away in fright as the boy howled in pain, hands clasping his head tightly. That was more violent than he thought, and the boy looked like he was in a bit of pain too.

"What the Hell, Maka?" the boy demanded, rubbing his head, red eyes glaring at her.

Maka just put the book down and gave a huff, "You were sleeping," she answered as though it were obvious, "You're not supposed to sleep through detention, even if the teacher up and left."

He growled, moving to stand up, "Fine, whatever," he grumbled as he took a backpack and slung it over his shoulder. As the boy was pushing his chair in, he caught sight of Jacko hiding behind Maka and raised an eyebrow, turning back to his meister, "So, uh, who's the kid? You didn't go and adopt someone while I was in here, did you?" he asked.

Ignoring the second comment, Maka moved to the side so that the boy had a clear view of the sorcerer, "This is Jacko," she introduced, "He's the one the professors brought up, about a magic user currently under DWMA's care. I'm going to be watching over him while Stein and the others are on their mission. Jacko, this is my weapon partner; Soul."

Soul…? Oh! So _that's_ what she meant about getting a soul. Not a soul, but Soul!

He smiled, pushing himself onto his legs again, "Hi!" he greeted, if the boy was friends with Maka, then he was nice, right?

The boy, Soul, flashed Jacko a smile showing off teeth that had the child in awe, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Jacko. Try not to die of boredom though while you're with Maka. She's not exactly the queen of fun if you know what I mean."

"Soul!" Maka chided, shooting him a glare.

"Just telling it as it is."

"I can be fun if I want to!"

"Keep telling yourself that."

As the two went back and forth with their banter, Jacko watched and smiled. Unable to keep hold back his laughter as he brought both hands to cover her mouth, muffling his giggles by a little. These two were at the very least quite funny. He could say with confidence that he liked them already.

Hearing his laughter, the two faltered in their lighthearted argument to turn their focus to the boy, both sharing a small smile.

Bringing his hands into his pockets, Soul trudged forward past the two, "Well, I don't know about you guys but _I'm_ starving. How about we catch some lunch?" he asked them as he pushed open the door and held it open for the two, "I'm thinking maybe we can treat ourselves, go out for food."

Food? Oh, right, with all that happened Jacko had almost forgotten that Spirit never got a chance to get him some lunch. His stomach growled at the mere mention of a meal, loud enough for both Soul and Maka to hear.

"I think that answers for you," Maka commented as she held back a small laugh, "come on, let's get some lunch." She held out a hand for him which he eagerly took hold, practically bouncing as he walked, following where they led. Maybe whatever place Maka had in mind would have some chicken!

* * *

Being able to breathe in fresh air and feel the sun on his skin was amazing, no it was beyond amazing! Jacko felt even more energy course through him just from the joy, the sense of freedom. He babbled as they walked, words that neither Maka or Soul could understand, and swung his and Maka's linked hands about. A few times Soul chuckled as though he understood what Jacko was saying, and Maka nodded like he was speaking perfectly understandable English (or any human language for that matter).

He was steered to a small shop and lead to a both with red cushiony seats that would be easy to slide off of. Soul even grabbed him some crayons and a coloring sheet, which Jacko went right at like a starving tiger to a piece of freshly cut meat. It was an ocean-themed sheet, underwater with turtles and fishies and bubbles. It made Jacko feel a little homesick. He wanted to show Siren the finished project when everything was colored, she liked ocean stuff, he's like the colored page.

So engrossed in his drawing Jacko didn't even notice Soul and Maka order food or the waitress leaving. Just as he was starting to color the water, he was startled when a tall glass of apple juice was put in front of him. The waitress gave him a smile before leaving which he readily returned.

"That's looking pretty good," Soul commented from his spot across from Jacko.

He beamed with pride, face full of smiles and eyes sparkling at the praise, "Ka-we-la," he explained, pointing to the turtle on the page. "Ka-we-la turtle."

"Ka-we-la? Oh! Kauila, the sea-turtle myth, right?" Maka asked, and Jacko nodded his head quickly to confirm her question. "Well, I think you've made her look very beautiful," she said approvingly, "she'll be proud if she saw it."

Before Jacko could say anything the waitress returned. She slid a steaming pizza and basket of breadsticks onto the table and after exchanging a few quick words with Maka and Soul was on her way again to help another table. Jacko stared at it curiously, tilting his head and trying to wrap his mind over what he was supposed to do. It was a food he'd not had before, one of the foods Siren was strongly against him eating. But the other two were digging in like it was no big deal.

Soul cast him a look when it was clear Jacko hadn't made a move to touch anything and pointed at him with a breadstick, "Go on, eat up, don't need to be afraid it's not going to bite you," he remarked, biting into the slick stick, "you're hungry, right?"

He nodded and hesitated, reaching over to grab one of the pizza slices. Several strands of cheese hung over the edges, and he could feel the grease on his fingers as he held it precariously, he could _smell_ the grease even with the overpowering odor of everything else. It glistened atop the cheese and pepperoni, but he seemed to be the only one who noticed it.

Well, nothings gained if you aren't a little adventurous.

He took a bite, not minding how hot it was as he carefully chewed. After he swallowed down his first bite, his eyes had stars in them and he gobbled down the rest of his pizza at record speed. It was _good_. Even the breadstick was good, great even! He must have looked like a starving animal with how fast he tore into his food.

"Slow down there," Maka laughed, "the foods not going anywhere."

The pizza was delicious, and he couldn't help but wonder at first why Siren didn't like it. Jacko certainly enjoyed it, it tasted amazing. Unfortunately, his body was so unused to so many greasy foods all at once that he got sick before he even finished his third breadstick. Soul had to rush him off to the bathroom before he threw up everything he ate.

He had never had anything that counted as 'junk food' before, nor had he ever vomited in a public bathroom before. Jacko didn't recommend the second one.

Soul helped clean him up, wiping his face down with a damp towel and helping him rinse the acidic taste from his mouth. Maka had been waiting by the door the whole time, and when Jacko exited the bathroom, the smell of pizza hit him like a tsunami. His face paled and he put a hand to his mouth as though he might puke again.

Figuring that it'd be best not to stay in there any longer, Maka paid for their food and they left. Jacko's legs still felt wobbly, his stomach still churning a little, he didn't think he'd have the strength to make it back to his room after that small accident. Soul solved that by picking him up and carrying the boy on his back.

Jacko wasn't sure what happened after that. He fell asleep halfway through the walk back without meaning to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I'm trash, I wanted to make the pizzeria either Freddy Fazbear's or Fish Stew Pizza, but decided against it. Jacko has finally had his first taste of greasy and very unhealthy food, it was great until he puked it all up.

**Author's Note:**

> Ainokea: I don't care | I couldn't care less


End file.
